Cellular Automata model of carbonitrides precipitation process in steels

Abstract

Cellular Automata (CA) model of carbonitride precipitation in microalloyed steels is presented in the paper. The model accounts for an increase of dislocation density due to plastic deformation and predicts kinetics of precipitation as well as stereological parameters of precipitates. Precipitation of compounds plays crucial role in controlling of properties of alloys. In low alloyed steels the microalloying elements: Ti, Nb, V are added in order to control their microstructure and mechanical properties. The most important tool in development of new processing technologies is numerical modelling. Modelling is a mathematical description of the relation between the main process variables and the resulting material properties. Many thermodynamics models were developed in the second half of the 20th century. For example the model of carbonitrides precipitation in microalloyed steels is considered works of Dutta & Sellars [1], Dutta et al. [2], Dutta et al. [3]. The models allow calculate kinetics of precipitation and stereological parameters of precipitates as a function of processing parameters. CA model proves to be very efficient in modelling various phenomena in materials science. The transition rules transfer the mathematical model and the knowledge regarding precipitation into the cellular automata space.