Arthur A. Brown

Prediction of Final Material State in Multi‐Stage Forging Processes

Multi‐stage forging processes are used to manufacture reservoirs for high pressure hydrogen and tritium storage. The warm‐forging process is required to produce required macro and microscale forged material properties of 304 and 21‐6‐9 stainless steel. Strict requirements on the forged material strength, grain size and grain flow are necessitated to inhibit the diffusion of gas which inevitably leads to material embrittlement. Accurate prediction of the final material state requires modeling of each of the forging stages and tracking the material state evolution through each deformation and reheating stage. An internal state variable constitutive model, capable of predicting the high strain rate, temperature dependent material behavior, is developed to predict final material strength and microstructure. History dependent, internal state variables are used to model the isotropic and kinematic hardening, grain size and recrystallization. Numerical methodologies were developed to track and remap material sta...

Process modeling and experiments for forging and welding.

We are developing the capability to track material changes through numerous possible steps of the manufacturing process, such as forging, machining, and welding. In this work, experimental and modeling results are presented for a multiple-step process in which an ingot of stainless steel 304L is forged at high temperature, then machined into a thin slice, and finally subjected to an autogenous GTA weld. The predictions of temperature, yield stress, and recrystallized volume fraction are compared to experimental results.

Sandia fracture challenge 2: Sandia California's modeling approach

The second Sandia Fracture Challenge illustrates that predicting the ductile fracture of Ti-6Al-4V subjected to moderate and elevated rates of loading requires thermomechanical coupling, elasto-thermo-poro-viscoplastic constitutive models with the physics of anisotropy and regularized numerical methods for crack initiation and propagation. We detail our initial approach with an emphasis on iterative calibration and systematically increasing complexity to accommodate anisotropy in the context of an isotropic material model. Blind predictions illustrate strengths and weaknesses of our initial approach. We then revisit our findings to illustrate the importance of including anisotropy in the failure process. Mesh-independent solutions of continuum damage models having both isotropic and anisotropic yields surfaces are obtained through nonlocality and localization elements.

Experiments and modeling to characterize microstructure and hardness in 304L

Drawn 304L stainless steel tubing was subjected to 42 different annealing heat treatments with the goal of initializing a microstructural model to select a heat treatment to soften the tubing from a hardness of 305 Knoop to 225–275 Knoop. The amount of recrystallization and grain size caused by 18 heat treatments were analyzed via optical microscopy and image analysis, revealing the full range of recrystallization from 0 to 100%. The formation of carbides during the longer duration and higher-temperature heat treatments was monitored via transmission electron microscope evaluation. The experimental results informed a model which includes recovery, recrystallization, and grain growth to predict microstructure and hardness. After initialization of the model, it was able to predict hardness with a R2 value of 0.95 and recrystallization with an R2 value of 0.99. The model was then utilized in the design and testing of a heat treatment to soften the tubing.

A micro to macro approach to polymer matrix composites damage modeling : final LDRD report.

Capabilities are developed, verified and validated to generate constitutive responses using material and geometric measurements with representative volume elements (RVE). The geometrically accurate RVEs are used for determining elastic properties and damage initiation and propagation analysis. Finite element modeling of the meso-structure over the distribution of characterizing measurements is automated and various boundary conditions are applied. Plain and harness weave composites are investigated. Continuum yarn damage, softening behavior and an elastic-plastic matrix are combined with known materials and geometries in order to estimate the macroscopic response as characterized by a set of orthotropic material parameters. Damage mechanics and coupling effects are investigated and macroscopic material models are demonstrated and discussed. Prediction of the elastic, damage, and failure behavior of woven composites will aid in macroscopic constitutive characterization for modeling and optimizing advanced composite systems.

Predictive Simulation of a Validation Forging Using a Recrystallization Model

Recrystallization is the process by which a strained microstructure is replaced by a strain-free set of grains through nucleation and growth. A constitutive model for recrystallization has been developed within the framework of an existing dislocation-based rate and temperature-dependent plasticity model. The theory includes an isotropic hardening variable to represent the statistically stored dislocation density, a scalar misorientation variable related to the spacing between geometrically necessary boundaries, and a variable that tracks the recrystallized volume fraction. The theory has been implemented and tested in a finite element code. Material parameters were fit to data from monotonic compression tests on 304L steel for a wide range of temperatures and strain rates. The model is then validated by using the same parameter set in predictive simulations of experiments in which wedge forgings were produced at elevated temperatures. From the forgings, tensile specimens were machined and tested. Model predictions of the final yield strengths compare well to the experimental results.

Temperature-Dependent Small Strain Plasticity Behavior of 304L Stainless Steel

Glass-to-metal seals are used extensively to protect and isolate electronic components. Small strains of just a few percent are typical in the metal during processing of seals, but generate substantial tensile stresses in the glass during the solidification portion of the process. These tensile stresses can lead to glass cracking either immediately or over time, which results in a loss of hermiticity of the seal. Measurement of the metal in the small strain region needs to be very accurate as small differences in the evolving state of the metal have significant influence on the stress state in the glass and glass-metal interfaces. Small strain tensile experiments were conducted over the temperatures range of 25–800 °C. Experiments were designed to quantify stress relaxation and reloading combined with mid-test thermal changes. The effect of strain rate was measured by directly varying the applied strain rate during initial loading and reloading and by monitoring the material response during stress relaxation experiments. Coupled thermal mechanical experiments were developed to capture key features of glass-to-metal seal processing details such as synchronized thermal and mechanical loading, thermal excursions at various strain levels, and thermal cycling during stress relaxation or creep loadings. Small changes in the processing cycle parameters were found to have non-insignificant effect on the metal behavior. The resulting data and findings will be presented.

Development of Residual Stress Simulation and Experimental Measurement Tools for Stainless Steel Pressure Vessels

In forged, welded, and machined components, residual stresses can form during the fabrication process. These residual stresses can significantly alter the fatigue and fracture properties compared to an equivalent component containing no residual stress. When performing lifetime assessment, the residual stress state must be incorporated into the analysis to most accurately reflect the initial condition of the component. The focus of this work is to present the computational and experimental tools that we are developing to predict and measure the residual stresses in stainless steel for use in pressure vessels. The contour method was used to measure the residual stress in stainless steel forgings. These results are compared to the residual stresses predicted using coupled thermo-mechanical simulations that track the evolution of microstructure, strength and residual stress during processing.Copyright

J-Integral modeling and validation for GTS reservoirs.

Non-destructive detection methods can reliably certify that gas transfer system (GTS) reservoirs do not have cracks larger than 5%-10% of the wall thickness. To determine the acceptability of a reservoir design, analysis must show that short cracks will not adversely affect the reservoir behavior. This is commonly done via calculation of the J-Integral, which represents the energetic driving force acting to propagate an existing crack in a continuous medium. J is then compared against a materials fracture toughness (J{sub c}) to determine whether crack propagation will occur. While the quantification of the J-Integral is well established for long cracks, its validity for short cracks is uncertain. This report presents the results from a Sandia National Laboratories project to evaluate a methodology for performing J-Integral evaluations in conjunction with its finite element analysis capabilities. Simulations were performed to verify the operation of a post-processing code (J3D) and to assess the accuracy of this code and our analysis tools against companion fracture experiments for 2- and 3-dimensional geometry specimens. Evaluation is done for specimens composed of 21-6-9 stainless steel, some of which were exposed to a hydrogen environment, for both long and short cracks.

Progress report for the ASCI AD resistance weld process modeling project AD2003-15.

This report documents activities related to the ASCI AD Resistance Weld Process Modeling Project AD2003-15. Activities up to and including FY2004 are discussed. This was the third year for this multi year project, the objective of which is to position the SIERRA computational tools for the solution of resistance welding problems. The process of interest is a three-way coupled problem involving current flow, temperature buildup and large plastic deformation. The DSW application is the reclamation stem weld used in the manufacture of high pressure gas bottles. This is the first year the CALAGIO suite of codes (eCALORE, CALORE, and ADAGIO) was used to successfully solve a three-way coupled problem in SIERRA. This report discusses the application of CALAGIO to the tapered bar acceptance problem and a similar but independent tapered bar simulation of a companion C6 experiment. New additions to the EMMI constitutive model and issues related to CALAGIO performance are also discussed.