AbstractA finite element formulation for large elasto‐plastic deformation of polycrystalline materials is proposed in incremental form. The effect of rotation of crystal axes besides usual element rotaion is taken into account. Some numerical considerations on polycrystalline plasticity (i.e. stress‐strain curves for several proportional loadings, effect of change of loading path on stress‐strain curve, subsequent yield loci for uniaxial and equi‐biaxial loadings and so forth) are given for the case of small deformation by using a plate model which consists of 121 square FCC c