Coupling of Crystal Plasticity Finite Element and Phase Field Methods for the Prediction of SRX Kinetics after Hot Working

The conventional approach to model static recrystallization (SRX) kinetics is to use the well-known Kolmogorov–Johnson–Mehl–Avrami (KJMA) equation. However, the validity of KJMA kinetics depends on whether the real recrystallization process follows the assumptions made in the derivation of the KJMA kinetics, which are a random distribution of nucleation sites, isotropic growth and a constant growth velocity. When these assumptions are violated the KJMA kinetics loose their physical meaning and turn into an empirical formula with limited predictive capability. In such cases, phase field (PF) method can be an alternative to the KJMA model, since it is based on irreversible thermodynamics. An effective strategy to apply the PF method to static recrystallization problems is coupling it to a deformation model though which the prior deformation process is simulated. For that purpose crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) can be employed. In this work, an example of a weak coupling strategy was applied to a steel grade of commercial interest (X60Mn23 TWIP steel) for which KJMA equation is invalid. Deformation of a Voronoi type representative volume element was modeled using a Crystal plasticity finite element formulation after determining the material parameters of a strain hardening model from macroscopic experiments. Afterwards, the deformed structure was transferred on to a finite difference grid with a dedicated mapping scheme, which was then used as input for phase field simulation. Finally, the simulation results were compared with the results of stress relaxation tests. It was found that although the grain morphology of the simulation differed from the experimental results, the coupled simulation strategy was able to mimic the main features of the static recrystallization (SRX) kinetics.