To study the anisotropic hardening behaviors of dual‐phase steels under strain path changes, a meso‐scale finite element analysis was considered with the representative volume elements. For the constitutive model, the Homogeneous yield function based on Anisotropic Hardening (HAH model) was used as a phenomenological constitutive equations to describe complex anisotropic material responses in an efficient way. For the martensite inclusions, three different configurations – elongated, large, and small spherical shapes – with two different volume fractions – 10 and 30% – were assumed. In order to represent strain path changes, two loading conditions were considered: tension–compression and tension–orthogonal tension. The simulation results for tension–compression test showed that the Bauschinger ratio increases as the volume fraction of martensite inclusion increases. For the tension–orthogonal tension test, the hard martensite attenuated the transient flow stress characteristics, which were observed in the single ferritic phase. The effect of hard phase inclusion was analytically explained using a simple one‐dimensional analysis based on the elastic‐linear plastic theory.
