Modeling of thermal stresses in low alloy steels

Abstract

Computing the evolution of thermal stresses accurately requires appropriate constitutive relations. This includes both the thermal and mechanical aspects, as temperature is the driver to thermal stresses. The paradigm of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) aims at being able to quantitatively relate process-structure-property of a material. The article describes physics based models, denoted bridging elements, which are one step towards the vision of ICME. They couple material structure with heat capacity, heat conductivity, thermal and transformation strains and elastic properties for hypo-eutectoid steels. The models can account for the chemical composition of the steel and its processing, i.e. thermomechanical history, giving the evolution of the microstructure and the corresponding properties.