Modeling of the Kinetics of Carbonitride Precipitation Process in High-Strength Low-Alloy Steels Using Cellular Automata Method

Abstract

Proposition of a cellular automata (CA) model of carbonitride precipitation to simulate image of microstructure in HSLA steels and to predict the mechanical properties is presented in the paper. CA model proved to be very efficient in modeling various phenomena in material science. Numerical modeling played an important role in development of new processing technologies taking advantage of precipitation. By modeling, we mean a mathematical description of the relation between the main process variables and the resulting material properties, based on sound physical principles. In microalloyed steels, the microalloying elements Ti, Nb and V are added in order to control their microstructure and mechanical properties. High chemical affinity of these elements for interstitials (C, N) results in precipitation of binary compound, nitrides and carbides and products of their mutual solubility—carbonitrides. The model accounts for an increase in dislocation density due to plastic deformation and predicts kinetics of precipitation as well as shape of precipitates.