Numerical Modeling of Ti-6Al-4V Microstructure Evolution for Thermomechanical Process Control
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A collaborative effort combining simulation, experiments and feedback control has been created to allow for enhanced manufacturing of Ti-6Al-4V by examining the relationship between thermomechanical processing and microstructure evolution. A heating and tensile stage that operates in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been developed to enable real-time control of microstructure. Microstructure evolution modelling using Monte-Carlo (MC), finite element crystal plasticity (FECP), and microelasticity theory coupled phase field methods help to interpret the SEM experimental results, and inform the processing conditions for design and control of future experiments. This talk highlighted our work in modelling microstructure evolution under thermomechanical loading. The MC grain growth model, calibrated using literature data, is used to simulate BCC $\beta$-phase grain growth above the $\beta$-transus temperature, FECP is used to simulate deformation induced evolution of the microstructure and compute heterogeneous stored energy providing additional source of energy to MC and phase-field models. This FECP/MC suite would be able to simulate evolution of grains in the microstructure, while the phase-field model helps simulate evolution within an individual beta/$\beta$-grain. This talk gave an overview of the overall project, and then focused on the development and implementation of the FECP and MC models. Some preliminary results were presented.
This research is sponsored through a grant from NSF, Award CMMI-1729336, DMREF: Adaptive control of Microstructure from the Microscale to the Macroscale.