Microstructure modeling and virtual test of asphalt mixture based on three-dimensional discrete element method

The objective of this work is to model the microstructure of asphalt mixture and build virtual test for asphalt mixture by using Particle Flow Code in three dimensions(PFC^(3D))based on three-dimensional discrete element method.A randomly generating algorithm was proposed to capture the three-dimensional irregular shape of coarse aggregate.And then,modeling algorithm and method for graded aggregates were built.Based on the combination of modeling of coarse aggregates,asphalt mastic and air voids,three-dimensional virtual sample of asphalt mixture was modeled by using PFC^(3D).Virtual tests for penetration test of aggregate and uniaxial creep test of asphalt mixture were built and conducted by using PFC^(3D).By comparison of the testing results between virtual tests and actual laboratory tests,the validity of the microstructure modeling and virtual test built in this study was verified.Additionally,compared with laboratory test,the virtual test is easier to conduct and has less variability.It is proved that microstructure modeling and virtual test based on three-dimensional discrete element method is a promising way to conduct research of asphalt mixture.

Advances on Microstructure Modeling of Solidification Process of Shape Casting

Simulation technology for shape casting at macro-scale has been successfully put into engineer- ing application in a number of casting plants and as a result the quality of castings is assured, the research and development time is shortened, and the manufacturing cost is greatly saved as well. In this paper, mod- eling and simulation technologies of solidification process of shape casting at microstructure-scale, espe- cially deterministic, cellular automaton, and phase field models are studied and reviewed.

Cellular automaton modeling of semisolid microstructure formation

Computer modeling of semi-solid structure formation is of significance in both understanding the mechanisms of globular structure formation and determining the effect of solidification conditions on final microstructure.A modified cellular automaton(mCA) model has been developed,which is coupled with macroscopic models for heat transfer calculation and microscopic models for nucleation and grain growth.The mCA model is applied to A356 Al alloy-one of the most widely used semi-solid alloys,to predict grain morphology and grain size during semi-solid solidification,and determines the effects of pouring temperature on the final microstructure.The modeling results show that the lower the initial temperature,the finer grain size will be obtained.In addition,the model can be used to predict the solutal micro-segregation.

Microstructure observation and mechanical behavior modeling for limnetic nacre

In the present research, microstructure of akind of limnetic shell （Hyriopsis cumingii） is observed and measured by using the scanning electron microscopy, and mechanical behavior experiments of the shell nacre are carried out by using bending and tensile tests. The dependence of mechanical properties of the shell nacre on its microstructure is analyzed by using a modified shear-lag model, and the overall stress-strain relation is obtained. The experimental results reveal that the mechanical properties of shell nacre strongly depend on the water contents of the limnetic shell. Dry nacre shows a brittle behavior, whereas wetting nacre displays a strong ductility. Compared to the tensile test, the bending test overestimates the strength and underestimates the Young＇s modulus. The modified shear-lag model can characterize the deformation features of nacre effectively.

Prediction of tri-modal microstructure under complex thermomechanical processing history in isothermal local loading forming of titanium alloy

To control the tri-modal microstructure and performance,a prediction model of tri-modal microstructure in the isothermal local loading forming of titanium alloy was developed.The staged isothermal local loading experiment on TA15alloy indicates that there exist four important microstructure evolution phenomena in the development of tri-modal microstructure,i.e.,the generation of lamellarα,content variation of equiaxedα,spatial orientation change of lamellarαand globularization of lamellarα.Considering the laws of these microstructure phenomena,the microstructure model was established to correlate the parameters of tri-modal microstructure and processing conditions.Then,the developed microstructure model was integrated with finite element(FE)model to predict the tri-modal microstructure in the isothermal local loading forming.Its reliability and accuracy were verified by the microstructure observation at different locations of sample.Good agreements between the predicted and experimental results suggest that the developed microstructure model and its combination with FE model are effective in the prediction of tri-modal microstructure in the isothermal local loading forming of TA15alloy.

Microstructural Modeling and Multiscale Mechanical Properties Analysis of Cancellous Bone

This paper is devoted to the microstructure geometric modeling and mechanical properties computation of cancellous bone.The microstructure of the cancellous bone determines its mechanical properties and a precise geometric modeling of this structure is important to predict the material properties.Based on the microscopic observation,a new microstructural unit cell model is established by introducing the Schwarz surface in this paper.And this model is very close to the real microstructure and satisfies the main biological characteristics of cancellous bone.By using the unit cell model,the multiscale analysis method is newly applied to predict the mechanical properties of cancellous bone.The effective stiffness parameters are calculated by the up-scaling multi-scale analysis.And the distribution of microscopic stress in cancellous bone is determined through the down-scaling procedure.In addition,the effect of porosity on the stiffness parameters is also investigated.The predictive mechanical properties are in good agreement with the available experimental results,which verifies the applicability of the proposed unit cell model and the validness of the multiscale analysis method to predict the mechanical properties of cancellous bone.

Two-dimensional Model of the Microstructural Evolution in Hot-strip Rolling Processes of C-Mn Steels by Computer Simulations

In the present paper,the two-dimensional comprehensive model,which integrates the temperature model developed by the authors using finite difference methods and microstructural evolution model,has been developed.By using different microstructural evolution equations developed by Sellars,Senuma et al.and Easka et al.,the comparison studies have been made,which present that (1) the calculated γ-grain sizes show good agreements with the measured;(2) these equations show consistencies at the end of finishing stands.

A Model to Describe the Fracture of Porous Polygranular Graphite Subject to Neutron Damage and Radiolytic Oxidation

Two linked models have been developed to explore the relationship between the amount of porosity arising in service from both radiolytic oxidation and fast neutron damage that influences both the strength and the force-displacement(load-displacement)behaviour and crack propagation in pile grade A graphite used as a nuclear reactor moderator material.Firstly models of the microstructure of the porous graphite for both unirradiated and irradiated graphite are created.These form the input for the second stage,simulating fracture in lattice-type finite element models,which predicts force(load)-displacement and crack propagation paths.Microstructures comprising aligned filler particles,typical of needle coke,in a porous matrix have been explored.The purpose was to isolate the contributions of filler particles and porosity to fracture strength and crack paths and consider their implications for the overall failure of reactor core graphite.

Numerical simulation of rock pore-throat structure effects on NMR T_2 distribution

We built a three-dimensional irregular network model which can adequately describe reservoir rock pore-throat structures. We carried out numerical simulations to study the NMR T2 distribution of water-saturated rocks. The results indicate that there is a good correlation between T2 distribution and the pore radius frequency histogram. The total T2 distribution can be partitioned into pore body and pore throat parts. The effect of parameters including throat radius, pore-throat ratio, and coordination number of the micro- pore structure on the T2 distribution can be evaluated individually. The result indicates that： 1 ） with the increase of the pore throat radius, the T2 distribution moves toward longer relaxation times and its peak intensity increases; 2） with the increase of the pore-throat ratio, the T2 distribution moves towards longer T2 with the peak intensity increasing and the overlap between pore body T2 and pore throat T2 decreasing; 3） With the increase of connectivity, the short T2 component increases and peak signal intensity decreases slightly.

Microscopic sand production simulation and visual sanding pattern description in weakly consolidated sandstone reservoirs

To visually describe the sanding pattern,this study constructs a new particle-scale microstructure model of weakly consolidated formation,and develop the corresponding methodology to simulate the sanding process and predict sand cavity shape.The microstructure model is a particle-objective model,which focuses on the random sedimentation of every sand grain.In the microstructure,every particle has its own size,sphericity and inclination angle.It is used to simulate the actual structure of cemented granular materials,which considers the heterogeneity and randomness of reservoir properties,provides the initial status for subsequent sanding simulation.With the particle detachment criteria,the microscopic simulation of sanding can be visually implemented to investigate the pattern and cavity shapes caused by sand production.The results indicate that sanding always starts initially from the borehole border,and then extends along the weakly consolidated plane,showing obvious characteristic of randomness.Three typical microscopic sanding patterns,concerning pore liquefaction,pseudo wormhole and continuous collapse,are proposed to illustrate the sanding mechanism in weakly consolidated reservoirs.The nonuniformity of sanding performance depends on the heterogeneous distribution of reservoir properties,such as rock strength and particle size.Finally,the three sanding patterns are verified by visually experimental work.The proposed integrated methodology is capable of predicting and describing the sanding cavity shape of an oil well after long-term sanding production,and providing the focus objective of future sand control measure.

Microscopic morphology evolution of the crystal structure of tetrahydrofuran hydrate under flowing condition

The evolution of the hydrate particle structure during growth and agglomeration under flowing condition affects the particle as well as flow characteristic,which plays an important role in the flow assurance as well as heat transfer in refrigeration systems.Therefore,this article conducts experiments to study and observe the growth and agglomeration process in the main forming stage of hydrate.It was found that the growth of tetrahydrofuran hydrate was anisotropic and in a layered growth pattern.Single crystals generally transformed from octahedral structure to octahedral skeleton structure with growth,however some single crystals also deformed into plate type particles.The thickness of the plate type particles increased gradually during growth,and the edge part increased earlier than the middle part.During agglomeration,the hydrate particles contacted and sintered together.Sand as the impurity didn’t serve as the nucleation center but affected the agglomeration of hydrate particles by collisions.In addition,the effect increased as the sand size decreased.Finally,a microstructure model for hydrate growth and agglomeration was proposed,which showed the hydrate structure evolution in these processes and could lay a foundation for studying the flow assurance of hydrate slurry.

Prospects for 12Cr martensitic creep resistant steels for 650℃steam power plant

In the last three decades new stronger modified 9%Cr steels have been introduced in new power plants with steam parameters up to 300 bar(1 bar =10~5 Pa) and 600℃. In order to further increase the steam parameters of steel based power plants up to a target value of 650℃/ 325 bar it is necessary to double the creep strength compared with todays strongest 9%Cr steels,and at the same time the resistance against steam oxidation must be improved by adding 12%Cr to the steel. However,so far all attempts to make stronger 12%Cr steels have been unsuccessful because the high chromium content introduced severe microstructure instabilities in the tested steels.Recently,it was found that the microstructure instabilities in 11%- 12%Cr steels can be explained by the precipitation of coarse Cr(V,Nb)N Z-phases, which dissolve fine(V,Nb)N nitrides. A new possibility to use the Z-phase for strengthening of 12%Cr steels has been identified,and the development of stable strong martensitic 12%Cr steels based on this concept is expected to allow the construction of 325 bar/ 650℃steam power plants all based on steel.

Study on stability of hydrogenated amorphous silicon films

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon （a-Si：H） films with high and same order of magnitude photosensitivity （-10^5） but different stability were prepared by using microwave electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapour deposition system under the different deposition conditions. It was proposed that there was no direct correlation between the photosensitivity and the hydrogen content （CH） as well as H-Si bonding configurations, but for the stability, they were the critical factors. The experimental results indicated that higher substrate temperature, hydrogen dilution ratio and lower deposition rate played an important role in improving the microstructure of a-Si：H films. We used hydrogen elimination model to explain our experimental results.

Comprehensive unified model and simulation approach for microstructure evolution

The prediction of microstructure constituents and their morphologies is of great importance for the evaluation of material properties and design of advanced materials.There have been considerable efforts to model and simulate microstructure evolution using a wide spectrum of models and simulation approaches.This paper initially reviews the atomistic and mesoscale simulation approaches for microstructure evolution,emphasizing their advantages and disadvantages.Atomistic approaches,such as molecular dynamics,are restricted by the scale of the studied system because they are computationally expensive.Continuum mesoscale simulation approaches,such as phase field,cellular automata,and Monte Carlo,have inconsistent phenomenological equations,each of which only describes one aspect of microstructure evolution.To provide comprehensive insight into microstructure evolution,a unified model that is capable of equally evaluating the nucleation and growth processes is required.In this paper,a physics-based model is proposed that incorporates statistical mechanics,the energy conservation law,and the force equilibrium concept to include all aspects of microstructure evolution.A compatible simulation approach is also described to simulate microstructure evolution during thermomechanical treatments.Furthermore,the microstructure evolution of AISI 304 austenitic steel during isothermal heat treatment and fusion welding is simulated and discussed.The use of fundamental physical rules instead of phenomenological equations,together with the real spatial and temporal scales of the proposed model,facilitates the comparison of the simulation results with experimental results.To examine the accuracy of the proposed simulation approach,the isothermal heat treatment simulation results are compared with experimental data over a broad region of temperatures and time periods.

Time-dependent diffusion magnetic resonance imaging:measurement,modeling,and applications

Increasingly,attention is being directed towards time-dependent diffusion magnetic resonance imaging(TDDMRI),a method that reveals time-related changes in the diffusional behavior of water molecules in biological tissues,thereby enabling us to probe related microstructure events.With ongoing improvements in hardware and advanced pulse sequences,significant progress has been made in applying TDDMRI to clinical research.The development of accurate mathematical models and computational methods has bolstered theoretical support for TDDMRI and elevated our understanding of molecular diffusion.In this review,we introduce the concept and basic physics of TDDMRI,and then focus on the measurement strategies and modeling approaches in short-and long-diffusion-time domains.Finally,we discuss the challenges in this field,including the requirement for efficient scanning and data processing technologies,the development of more precise models depicting time-dependent molecular diffusion,and critical clinical applications.

A Microstructural Damage Model toward Simulating the Mullins Effect in Double-Network Hydrogels

The damage models based on the eight-chain model and the affine full-chain network model are not adequate to describe the damage behaviors in double-network(DN)hydrogels.To overcome this limitation,we propose a combined chain stretch model with new damage flow rules.It is demonstrated that the new proposed micro-chain stretch is a reduced form of the complete representation for the transversely isotropic tensor function.As a result,the damage models based on the eight-chain model and the affine model are incorporated as special cases.The effects of chain affineness and network entangling are simultaneously involved in the new model,while only one of these two effects can be characterized in either the eight-chain model or the affine model.It is further shown that the new model can effectively capture the Mullins features of the DN hydrogels and achieve better agreement with the experimental data than the affine model and the eight-chain model.

Quantitative analysis of microstructure evolution induced by temperature rise during(α＋β) deformation of TA15 titanium alloy

Temperature rise is a significant factor influencing microstructure during（α＋β） deformation of TA15 titanium alloy.An experiment was designed to explore microstructure evolution induced by temperature rise due to deformation heat.The experiment was carried out in（α＋β） phase field at typical temperature rise rates.The microstructures of the alloy under different temperature rise rates were observed by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）.It is found that the dissolution rate of primary equiaxed a phase increases with the increase in both temperature and temperature rise rate.In the same temperature range,the higher the temperature rise rate is,the larger the final content and grain size of primary equiaxed a phase are due to less dissolution time.To quantitatively depict the evolution behavior of primary equiaxed a phase under any temperature rise rates,the dissolution kinetics of primary equiaxed a phase were well described by a diffusion model.The model predictions,including content and grain size of primary equiaxed a phase,are in good agreement with experimental observations.The work provides an important basis for the prediction and control of microstructure during hot working of titanium alloy.

Current development in quantitative phase-field modeling of solidification

The quantitative phase-field simulations were reviewed on the processes of solidification of pure metals and alloys.The quantitative phase-field equations were treated in a diffuse thin-interface limit,which enabled the quantitative links between interface dynamics and model parameters in the quasi-equilibrium simulations.As a result,the quantitative modeling is more effective in dealing with microstructural pattern formation in the large scale simulations without any spurious kinetic effects.The development of the quantitative phase-field models in modeling the formation of microstructures such as dendritic structures,eutectic lamellas,seaweed morphologies,and grain boundaries in different solidified conditions was also reviewed with the purpose of guiding to find the new prospect of applications in the quantitative phase-field simulations.

Micro-scale Cellular Automaton Modeling of Interface Evolution During Reaustenitization from Pearlite Structure in Steels

A modified cellular automaton model is developed to depict the interface evolution inside the cementite plus ferrite lamellar microstructures during the reaustenitization of a pearlite steel. In this model, migrations of both the austenite- ferrite and austenite-cementite interfaces coupled with the carbon diffusion and redistribution are integrated. The capil- laxity effect derived from local interface curvatures is also carefully considered by involving the concentration given by the phase diagram modified by the Gibbs-Thomson effect. This allows the interface evolution from a transient state to a steady state under different annealing conditions and various interlamellar spacings to be simulated. The proposed cellular automaton approach could be readily used to describe the kinetics of austenite formation from the lamellar pearlites and virtually reveal the kinematics of the moving interfaces from the microstructural aspect.

Microstructure evolution in large billet during reduction pretreatment based on laboratory experiments

The reduction pretreatment process has been proposed to improve the center quality of large billet and reduce the rolling ratio.The microstructure evolution during the reduction pretreatment was further understood.The austenite grains were refined after the reduction pretreatment experiment,especially those at the center of the billet.The effects of strain and strain rate on the average grain size were dependent on the deformation temperature.At a strain rate of 0.01 s-1 and 1200°C,the newly formed strain-free austenite grains grew very fast as the strain continued to increase,which resulted in the coarsening of austenite grains.The calculation results of the microstructure evolution model showed that at the same deformation temperature,the evolution curves of average grain size with different strain rates had the intersection points.With the increase in temperature,the position of intersection point moved to the downward direction of strain.The simulation results showed that when the reduction amount increased to 20%,the average grain size at the center was smaller than that near the surface.It could be inferred that when the reduction amount greatly exceeded 20%,the dynamic recrystallization at the center was mostly completed,and the austenite grain growth would become the main mechanism.