Integrated Modelling of Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties Prediction for Q&P Hot Stamping Process of Ultra‑High Strength Steel

High strength steel products with good ductility can be produced via Q&P hot stamping process,while the phase transformation of the process is more complicated than common hot stamping since two-step quenching and one-step carbon partitioning processes are involved.In this study,an integrated model of microstructure evolution relating to Q&P hot stamping was presented with a persuasively predicted results of mechanical properties.The transformation of diffusional phase and non-diffusional phase,including original austenite grain size individually,were considered,as well as the carbon partitioning process which affects the secondary martensite transformation temperature and the subsequent phase transformations.Afterwards,the mechanical properties including hardness,strength,and elongation were calculated through a series of theoretical and empirical models in accordance with phase contents.Especially,a modified elongation prediction model was generated ultimately with higher accuracy than the existed Mileiko’s model.In the end,the unified model was applied to simulate the Q&P hot stamping process of a U-cup part based on the finite element software LS-DYNA,where the calculated outputs were coincident with the measured consequences.

Modelling the Effect of Initial Grain Size on Dynamic Recrystallization Using a Modified Cellular Automata and a Adaptive Response Surface Method

A modified cellular automata （CA） model of dynamic recrystallization （DRX） and a flow stress-based nucleation parameter identification method have been developed. In the method, the modified CA model, which takes the role of deformation degree on nucleation behavior into consideration, is coupled with an adaptive response surface model （ARSM） to search for the optimum nucleation parameter. The DRX behavior of an oxygen free high conductivity （OFHC） copper with different initial grain sizes has been taken as an example to validate the model. Good agreement is found between the simulated and the experimental results, which demonstrates that the new method can effectively improve the simulation accuracy.

Finite element modelling on microstructure evolution during multi-pass hot compression for AZ31 alloys using incremental method

Based on the principle of piecewise linearization, the incremental forms of microstructure evolution models were integrated into the thermo-mechanical coupled finite element（FE） model to simulate nonlinear microstructure evolution during multi-pass hot deformation. This is an unsteady-state deformation where dynamic recrystallization（DRX）, meta-dynamic recrystallization（MDRX）, static recrystallization（SRX） and grain growth（GG） take place during hot deformation or deformation interval. The distributions of deformation and microstructure for cylindrical AZ31 sample during single-pass and double-pass hot compressions were quantitatively calculated and compared with the metallographic observation. It is shown that both the deformation and microstructure are non-uniformly distributed due to the presence of friction between the die and the flat end of sample. The average grain size and its standard deviation under the double-pass hot compression are slightly smaller than those under single-pass compression.The simulated average grain sizes agree well with the experiments, which validates that the developed FE model on the basis of incremental forms of microstructure evolution models is reasonable.

Crystallographic texture evolution and martensite transformation in the strain hardening process of a ferrite-based low density steel

The strain-induced martensite transformation is of great importance in the strain hardening process of ferrite based low-density steel.Based on the microstructure analysis,the texture evolution and martensite transformation behavior in the strain hardening process were studied.The results show that martensite transformation accompanied by TWIP effect and high density dislocations maintains the continuous hardening stage.As the strain increases,the texture of retained austenite evolves towards the F orientation{111}<112>,which is not conducive to martensite transformation.After the strain of 5%,the number of austenite grains with high Schmid factor orientations is gradually increased,and then significantly reduced when the strain is over 10%due to the occurrence of martensitic transformation,which results in a high martensitic transformation rate.However,the unfavorable orientation and the reduced grain size of austenite slow down the martensite transformation at the final hardening stage.Moreover,because of the coordination deformation of austenite grains,strain preferentially spreads between adjacent austenite grains.Consequently,the martensite transformation rate in strain hardening process is dependent on the orientation and grain size evolution of austenite,leading to a differential contribution to each strain hardening stage.