Micro-mechanical FE Analysis of Dual-phase Steels

Abstract

Microstructure based FE simulations were conducted to investigate the micro-mechanical properties of ferrite-martensite dual-phase steels. The FE model was built based on real microstructure images which were characterized by optical microscopy through the thickness direction. Serial sectioned 2D images were converted into semi-2D representative volume elements (RVEs) model. Each RVE model was subjected to a non-proportional loading condition and the mechanical response was analyzed on both the macroscopic and microscopic levels. Macroscopically, stress-strain curves were described under tension-compression and tension-orthogonal tension conditions and the Bauschinger effect was well captured for both loading paths. In addition, micromechanical properties were investigated in the view of stress-strain partitioning and strain localization during monotonic tension.