The finite element analysis of austenite decomposition during continuous cooling in 22MnB5 steel

The hot stamping process has been increasingly used in newly designed vehicles to improve crash worthiness and fuel efficiency. In this study, a finite element model based on a subroutine of the commercial software ABAQUS is developed to predict the interactive influence of temperature field and phase transformation on high-strength boron steel. JMAK-type equations with the incubation time and additivity hypothesis are adopted to describe the austenite decomposition into ferrite, pearlite and bainite, while the Koistinen and Marburger (K-M) model is used to describe the displacive transformation of matensite. The simulation results show that the introduction of incubation time into a JMAK equation can provide a more reasonable prediction of the transformation kinetics than if the equation is unmodified. A comparison between the simulation and the standard Jominy end-quenching test demonstrates the capability of the present model for the prediction of transformation kinetics, microstructure distribution and mechanical properties. Furthermore, the adoption of experimentally measured microhardness values for the individual phase constituent can produce improved accuracy of the hardness predictions compared to the empirical hardness equations.