Effect of the microstructural constituents development method on micro mechanical modeling predictions

Many workers have used micromechanical modeling to predict the ferrite-pearlite aggregate behavior without fulfilling the basic requirement that the single phases developed need to embody the same features as the corresponding ones in the aggregate material being modeled. Some have used the constitutive behavior of pearlite produced by controlled rolling to capture the aggregate behavior produced by conventional rolling. Others have used assumed behavior of the single constituent phases to capture the aggregate behavior developed by controlled rolling. This clearly indicates that the phase behaviors are being developed blindly although some workers were fortuitous to get aggregate predictions which compared well with experiments. This confusion in preparing the constitutive behavior of pearlite presents a fundamental misconception in micromechanical modeling which need to be revised. In this work, ferrite and pearlite phase behaviors are developed experimentally among which pearlite is produced using two different methods. Micromechanical modeling of cells is used to analyze the effect of each method of pearlite phase constitutive behavior development on the aggregate behavior. The analysis reveals significant effect of the method of development of the single constituents behavior on the micromechanical modeling predictions. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.