Mesoscopic modeling of austenite static recrystallization in a low carbon steel using a coupled simulation method

This study presents a two-dimensional cellular automaton (CA) simulation of austenite static recrystallization (SRX) following hot deformation by coupling with a crystal plasticity finite element (CPFEM) modeling. The initial deformed microstructure and the spatial distribution of the stored deformation energy quantified by CPFEM were incorporated in the CA model as the input for the simulation of the subsequent SRX nucleation and grain growth. This modeling provides an insight into the influence of heterogeneous deformation on the subsequent SRX at the mesoscale. The influence of pre-deformation on the SRX microstructure evolution and the transformation kinetics are discussed for three deformation levels of ε = 0.3, 0.5, 0.8.