Crystal plasticity based predictions of mechanical properties from heterogeneous steel microstructures

Abstract

An accurate understanding of the influence of the microstructure on mechanical properties as well as how the material behaves in forming tests is vital for product development and process improvement. The heterogeneity of the microstructure is very different for the various families of steel grades. As a consequence spatial stress and strain distributions on the micro scale will also differ a lot in these materials during forming operations. In the important family of Dual Phase (DP) steel grades. the combination of ductile ferrite phase and hard martensite particles enables an excellent hardening behaviour. However these micro constituents also result in a strong locally heterogeneous behaviour caused by the high material property contrast. To enable an accurate prediction of the materials response in forming processes advanced microstructure models as well as fast crystal plasticity code is essential. Within Tata Steel both are available. A Multi-Level Voronoi microstructure generator, capable of generating very complex Representative Volume Elements, is directly connected to the DAMASK code of the Max Planck Institüt für Eisenforschung. This crystal plasticity software is based on an ultrafast Fourier Spectral Solver. Crystal plasticity simulations with different loading cases (e.g. uni-axial, plane strain, simple shear) study various effects of microstructure heterogeneity on stress and strain distributions as well as on global hardening behaviour. Outcome is that not only the volume fraction but also the spatial distribution of the martensite particles has a large impact on local stresses and strains as well as on average hardening behaviour. Another important heterogeneity parameter is the carbon content, which influences strongly the hardness and hardenability of the martensite particles. An attempt is made to incorporate also this effect in crystal plasticity simulations.