Thermomechanical processing optimization for 304 austenitic stainless steel using artificial neural network and genetic algorithm

Abstract

Thermomechanical processing has an important effect on the grain boundary character distribution. To obtain the optimal thermomechanical processing parameters is the key of grain boundary engineering. In this study, genetic algorithm (GA) based on artificial neural network model was proposed to optimize the thermomechanical processing parameters. In this model, a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) was established to map the relationship between thermomechanical processing parameters and the fraction of low-Σ CSL boundaries, and GA integrated with BPNN (BPNN/GA) was applied to optimize the thermomechanical processing parameters. The validation of the optimal thermomechanical processing parameters was verified by an experiment. Moreover, the microstructures and the intergranular corrosion resistance of the base material (BM) and the materials produced by the optimal thermomechanical processing parameters (termed as the GBEM) were studied. Compared to the BM specimen, the fraction of low-Σ CSL boundaries was increased from 56.8 to 77.9% and the random boundary network was interrupted by the low-Σ CSL boundaries, and the intergranular corrosion resistance was improved in the GBEM specimen. The results indicated that the BPNN/GA model was an effective and reliable means for the thermomechanical processing parameters optimization, which resulted in improving the intergranular corrosion resistance in 304 austenitic stainless steel.