A combined crystal plasticity and graph-based vertex model of dynamic recrystallization at large deformations

Abstract

A mesoscale model of microstructure evolution is formulated in the present work by combining a crystal plasticity model with a graph-based vertex algorithm. This provides a versatile formulation capable of capturing finite-strain deformations, development of texture and microstructure evolution through recrystallization. The crystal plasticity model is employed in a finite element setting and allows tracing of stored energy build-up in the polycrystal microstructure and concurrent reorientation of the crystal lattices in the grains. This influences the progression of recrystallization as nucleation occurs at sites with sufficient stored energy and since the grain boundary mobility and energy is allowed to vary with crystallographic misorientation across the boundaries. The proposed graph-based vertex model describes the topological changes to the grain microstructure and keeps track of the grain inter-connectivity. Through homogenization, the macroscopic material response is also obtained. By the proposed modeling approach, grain structure evolution at large deformations as well as texture development are captured. This is in contrast to most other models of recrystallization which are usually limited by assumptions of one or the other of these factors. In simulation examples, the model is in the present study shown to capture the salient features of dynamic recrystallization, including the effects of varying initial grain size and strain rate on the transitions between single-peak and multiple-peak oscillating flow stress behavior. Also the development of recrystallization texture and the influence of different assumptions on orientation of recrystallization nuclei are investigated. Further, recrystallization kinetics are discussed and compared to classical JMAK theory. To promote computational efficiency, the polycrystal plasticity algorithm is parallelized through a GPU implementation that was recently proposed by the authors.