Microstructure-based description of the deformation of metals: Theory and application

Aiming for an integrated approach to computational materials engineering in an industrial context poses big challenges in the development of suitable materials descriptions for the different steps along the processing chain. The first key component is to correctly describe the microstructural changes during the thermal and mechanical processing of the base material into a semi-finished product. Explicit representations of the microstructure are most suitable there. The final processing steps and particularly component assessment then has to describe the entire component which requires homogenized continuum mechanical representations. A key challenge is the step in between, the determination of the (macroscopic) materials descriptions from microscopic structures. This article describes methods to include microstructure into descriptions of the deformation of metal, and demonstrates the central steps of the simulation along the processing chain of an automotive component manufactured from a dual phase steel.