Three-dimensional frontal cellular automata model of microstructure evolution - Phase transformation module

Abstract

The paper presents three-dimensional frontal cellular automata (FCA) based model for modeling of microstructure evolution during technological processes. It is hierarchical system. The first level is FCA, the second level is modules of microstuctural phenomena; and the third level is models of technological processes. The phase transformation module (PTM) is one of the components of the second level. PTM will contain several models of phase transformation; one of them presents transformation of austenite into ferrite and perlite. This phase transformation controlled by diffusion is considered as the nucleation and the growth of grains of other phases. The nucleation algorithm is presented in the paper. An effect of nucleation sites on final microstructure was studied on three extreme nucleation variants: nucleation on the boundaries, on the edges and in the grain corners. Simulations have been carried out for low cooling rate and relatively long time of the holding at appropriate temperature. The simulation results of the microstructure evolution studies are presented in the paper. © 2014 ISIJ.