Investigation of the effect of temper rolling on the texture evolution and mechanical behavior of IF steels using multiscale simulation

The main objective of this study is to simulate texture and deformation during the temper-rolling process. To this end, a rate-independent crystal plasticity model, based on the self-consistent scale-transition scheme, is adopted to predict texture evolution and deformation heterogeneity during temper-rolling process. For computational efficiency, a decoupled analysis is considered between the polycrystalline plasticity model and the finite element analysis for the temper rolling. The elasto-plastic finite element analysis is first carried out to determine the history of velocity gradient during the numerical simulation of temper rolling. The thus calculated velocity gradient history is subsequently applied to the polycrystalline plasticity model. By following some appropriately selected strain paths (i.e., streamlines) along the rolling process, one can predict the texture evolution of the material at the half thickness of the sheet metal as well as other parameters related to its microstructure. The numerical results obtained by the proposed strategy are compared with experimental data in the case of IF steels.French program “Investment in the future” operated by the National Research Agency (ANR)-11-LABX-0008-01, LabEx DAMAS (LST)

Strain mode dependence of deformation texture developments: Microstructural origin

Fully recrystallized commercial-purity aluminum sheets were deformed by limiting dome height tests, the following strain modes: uniaxial tension (US), near plane strain tension (PS), and equibiaxial tension (BS) were identified using standard procedure. The deformation texture developments differed significantly depending on the strain mode. Although the full constraints Taylor (FCT) model captured the texture developments in US, it failed to reproduce deformation textures in PS and especially in BS. The Advanced LAMEL (ALAMEL) model and the crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) were, however, successful with respect to all three strain modes. Microtexture data brought out interesting observations of orientation gradients. First, the orientation gradients increased from US to PS to BS. Second, such gradients were mostly around initial (or prior deformation) grain boundary regions. A simple algorithm, and an associated computer program, was developed to demarcate such near boundary gradient zones (NBGZs). The area fraction and severity of NBGZ seemed to affect the texture development; FCT was reasonably successful at low NBGZ, whereas high NBGZ required the ALAMEL and the CPFEM models that are capable of addressing strain heterogeneity and grain interactions.status: publishe

Burst Ductility of Zirconium Clads: The Defining Role of Residual Stress

Closed end burst tests, using room temperature water as pressurizing medium, were performed on a number of industrially produced zirconium (Zr) clads. A total of 31 samples were selected based on observed differences in burst ductility. The latter was represented as total circumferential elongation or TCE. The selected samples, with a range of TCE values (5 to 35 pct), did not show any correlation with mechanical properties along axial direction, microstructural parameters, crystallographic textures, and outer tube-surface normal (sigma (11)) and shear (tau (13)) components of the residual stress matrix. TCEs, however, had a clear correlation with hydrostatic residual stress (P (h)), as estimated from tri-axial stress analysis on the outer tube surface. Estimated P (h) also scaled with measured normal stress (sigma (33)) at the tube cross section. An elastic-plastic finite element model with ductile damage failure criterion was developed to understand the burst mechanism of zirconium clads. Experimentally measured P (h) gradients were imposed on a solid element continuum finite element (FE) simulation to mimic the residual stresses present prior to pressurization. Trends in experimental TCEs were also brought out with computationally efficient shell element-based FE simulations imposing the outer tube-surface P (h) values. Suitable components of the residual stress matrix thus determined the burst performance of the Zr clads