An elastoplastic self-consistent model has been implemented to perform
a systematic study of the response of rolled Zircaloy-2 subjected to
mechanical loading. The intergranular stresses induced by cooling the
material from 898 K to room temperature are calculated, accounting for
the experimental texture, and compared with experimental data. The el
astoplastic response in tension and compression along the rolling and
the transverse directions of the sheet is predicted and compared again
st the results of uniaxial tensile and compressive tests performed in
the same material. The role of the internal stresses on the yield stre
ss and the elastoplastic transition is analyzed, and information about
the active deformation systems in the individual grains is inferred f
rom the comparison. Indirect inference of the parameters describing th
e deformation mechanisms is the only available means, because it is no
t possible to grow single crystals of these alloys. The results of thi
s study demonstrate the adequacy of self-consistent schemes for predic
ting intergranular stresses and the significance of the latter on the
mechanical behavior of the material.