Multi-Phase-Field Simulation of Flow Stress and Microstructural Evolution during Deformation-Induced Ferrite Transformation in a Fe–C Alloy

• Published in: ISIJ International Vol. 54; no. 12; pp. 2917 - 2925
• Main Authors: Yamanaka, Akinori, Takaki, Tomohiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan 01.01.2014
• Subjects: deformation-induced ferrite transformation; dynamic recrystallization; flow stress curve; multi-phase-field method; ultrafine-grained ferrite
• ISSN: 0915-1559; 1347-5460
• DOI: 10.2355/isijinternational.54.2917

Deformation-induced ferrite transformation (DIFT) is one of the most effective ways of refining ferrite grains in steel. In this study, we employed a multi-phase-field (MPF) model to simulate both variations in macroscopic flow stress and microstructural evolution during DIFT. Using the MPF model, two-dimensional simulations of DIFT in a Fe–C alloy were performed to investigate the effects of strain rate, austenite grain size, and dynamic recrystallization (DRX) of the ferrite phase on flow stress curve and ferrite grain size. The results demonstrated that increasing the rate of ferrite nucleation by increasing the strain rate and reducing the austenite grain size is essential to obtaining fine-grained ferrite. The results of the simulations also indicated that it is important to reduce the interfacial mobility and increase the nucleation rate of the ferrite grains subjected to DRX in order to obtain ultrafine-grained ferrite by DIFT when it is accompanied by DRX of the ferrite phase. Thus, the MPF model is an effective tool for elucidating the correlation between the variation in the flow stress and the evolution of the ferrite grains during DIFT.