Finite Element Analysis of Microstructure Evolution of Materials going through Thermo-Mechanical Deformation Processes

Dynamic recrystallization evolves either by a continuous grain refinement mechanism around room temperatures or by a discontinuous grain nucleation and growth mechanism at elevated temperatures. In this study, a novel multi-scale numerical framework is developed to predict the grain size evolution by dynamic recrystallization in pure copper for an array of thermo-mechanical deformation processes. The developed model couples microscale physics-based recrystallization laws with a probabilistic multi-scale framework to capture both the types of recrystallization phenomena simultaneously. High strain rate loading experiments in conjunction with microstructural characterization tests are conducted for pure copper to characterize the dynamic grain size evolution in the material. Case studies are shown to demonstrate its capability in predicting the microstructure evolution of material going through various thermos-mechanical processing including compression testing under various temperatures and dynamic tensile testing followed by heat treatments.