Coupled finite element-Monte Carlo simulation of microstructure and texture evolution during thermomechanical processing

A novel simulation technique for predicting the microstructure and texture evolution during thermomechanical processing is presented. The technique involves coupling a finite element microstructural deformation model based on crystal plasticity with a Monte Carlo simulation of recovery and recrystallization. The finite element model captures the stored energy and the crystallographic orientation distributions in the deformed microstructure. The Monte Carlo simulation captures the microstructural evolution associated with recovery and recrystallization. A unique feature of the Monte Carlo simulation is that it treats recrystallization as a heterogeneous subgrain growth process, thus providing the natural link between nucleation and growth phenomena, and quantifying the role of recovery in these phenomena. Different nucleation mechanisms based on heterogeneous subgrain growth as well as strain induced boundary migration are automatically included in the recrystallization simulation. The simulations are shown to account for the extent of prior deformation on the microstructure and kinetics of recrystallization during subsequent annealing. The simulations also capture the influence of the presence of cube orientations in the initial microstructure, and the operation of non-octahedral slip during deformation of fee polycrystals, on the recrystallization texture.