Thomas Henke

Towards integrative computational materials engineering of steel components

This article outlines on-going activities at the RWTH Aachen University aiming at a standardized, modular, extendable and open simulation platform for materials processing. This platform on the one hand facilitates the information exchange between different simulation tools and thus strongly reduces the effort to design/re-design production processes. On the other hand, tracking of simulation results along the entire production chain provides new insights into mechanisms, which cannot be explained on the basis of individual simulations. Respective simulation chains provide e.g. the basis for the determination of materials and component properties, like e.g. distortions, for an improved product quality, for more efficient and more reliable production processes and many further aspects. After a short introduction to the platform concept, actual examples for different test case scenarios will be presented and discussed.

Prediction of Microstructure and Resulting Rolling Forces by Application of a Material Model in a Hot Ring Rolling Process

Ring rolling is a versatile incremental bulk forming process. Due to the incremental character of the process, it consists of a large number of deformation and dwell steps. Finite element (FE) simulations of bulk forming processes are capable of predicting loads, stresses and material flow. In recent years, the finite element analysis of ring rolling processes has become feasible both in terms of calculation time as well as regarding the closed loop control of the kinematic degrees of freedom [1]. Accordingly, the focus of interest now includes the prediction of the microstructure evolution. The accuracy of such numerical simulations strongly depends on the models characterizing the material behavior and boundary conditions. In this paper, a finite element based simulation study was conducted, in order to evaluate the impact of boundary conditions such as transfer time, radiation, heat transfer and friction on the target values of the ring rolling process. The results of the simulation study were compared to ring rolling experiments on an industrial size ring rolling device. A good accordance regarding the evolution of the outer diameter and radial force was observed. Strong contingencies of transfer time on the forces throughout the process were detected and considered in the simulation study. In a post processing step, the evolution of the microstructure considering the dynamic and static recrystallization as well as the grain growth was calculated using the FE results. The calculated grain sizes show good accordance with the experimentally observed microstructure of the ring before and after the rolling. Furthermore, the impact of process parameters on the evolution of the grain size was investigated.

Virtual Production Systems

The use of simulation systems is of significant importance for companies in high-wage countries as the requirements of product- and process quality are generally higher than in low-wage countries due to conditions of the market. Since the implementation of simulation tools is not value-adding in the first place, the performance of virtual product development chain must therefore be continuously increased in terms of greater planning efficiency. Research in the field of virtual production systems therefore addresses the following issue.

Experimental Uncertainties affecting the Accuracy of Stress‐Strain Equations by the Example of a Hensel‐Spittel Approach

The accuracy of numerical simulations in metal forming highly depends on the description of the plastic flow behavior. Due to experimental uncertainties flow curves recorded at equal testing conditions (combinations of temperature and strain rate) show scatter. This scatter influences the fit of material models and the resulting fit parameters. In this paper, factors causing uncertainties and systematic errors as well as ways to statistically describe uncertainties in the flow stress are analyzed by means of finite element simulations and experimental analyses of compression tests. To this end, compression tests were conducted for a 25MoCr4 steel to record flow curves for various temperatures and strain rates. To grasp experimental uncertainties, each experiment was repeated five times. The well known Bootstrap method was applied to characterize the uncertainties in fitting a Hensel‐Spittel flow curve model to the experimental data. This method is compared with an alternative strategy of resampling the ex...

Recent developments in modeling of hot rolling processes: Part I - Fundamentals

The numerical simulation of industrial rolling processes has gained substantial relevance over the past decades. A large variety of models have been put forward to simulate single and multiple rolling passes taking various interactions between the process, the microstructure evolution and the rolling mill into account. On the one hand, these include sophisticated approaches which couple models on all scales from the products microstructure level up to the elastic behavior of the roll stand. On the other hand, simplified but fast models are used for on-line process control and automatic pass schedule optimization. This publication gives a short overview of the fundamental equations used in modeling of hot rolling of metals. Part II of this paper will present selected applications of hot rolling simulations.

Application of a Material Model to Predict Rolling Forces and Microstructure during a Hot Ring Rolling Process

Ring rolling is an incremental bulk forming process. Hence, the process consists of a large number of alternating deformations and dwell steps. For accurate calculations of material flow and thus ring geometry and rolling forces in hot ring rolling processes, it seems necessary to consider material softening due to static and post dynamic recrystallization which could occur between two deformation steps. In addition, due to the large number of cycles, the modeling results, especially the prediction of grain size, can easily be affected by uncertainties in the input data. However, for small rings and ring material with slow recrystallization kinetics, the interpass times can be short compared to the softening kinetics and the effect of softening can be so small, that microstructure evolution and the description of the materials flow behavior can be de-coupled. In this paper, a semi-empirical JMAK-based model for a stainless steel (1.4301/ X5CrNi18-9/ AISI304) is presented and evaluated by the use of experiments and other investigations published in [1],[2]. Finite Element (FE) simulations of a ring rolling process with a high number of ring revolutions and thus multiple, incremental forming steps were conducted based on ring rolling experiments. The FE simulation results were validated with the experimentally derived rolling force and evolution of ring diameter. The microstructure evolution was calculated in a post processing step considering the investigated evolution of strain and temperature. In this calculation the interrelations between the fraction of dynamically recrystallized microstructure, the evolution of post-dynamically recrystallized microstructure and the final grain size have been considered. Both, the calculated final microstructure and the evolution of rolling force and ring geometry calculated stand in good agreement with the experimental investigations.

Optimization of a Closed Die Forging Process to Manufacture a Gear Wheel by the Use of a Response Surface Model

Heavy-duty components used in the automotive industry, in wind turbines and in many other industrial applications are often produced using hot forging processes. Nowadays the design of hot forging processes aims for the optimization of process efficiency on the one hand and final mechanical product properties on the other hand. Excellent mechanical properties needed for hot-forged components e.g. high load capacity and high fatigue resistance depend on a fine homogeneous microstructure distribution across the final product’s cross-section. Efficiency in hot forging can be optimized by increasing the temperature during processing, which allows for lower forging loads and lower die stresses, thus improving die life in terms of mechanical fatigue. To guarantee for a fine homogenous microstructure across the cross section of the forged good, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) has to be initiated during deformation and Grain Growth (GG) has to be avoided during dwell times and cooling. Due to the high computational costs of finite element simulations an optimization aiming for lowest possible forging loads and finest possible grain sizes is very time-consuming. In this paper a Response Surface Model (RSM) of the forging process is introduced, which allows for much faster evaluation of the outcome of forging simulations, albeit by interpolation of simulation results, and thus allows for optimization. The information required to create the RSM is obtained by Design Of Experiments (DOE) techniques using an FE-model of the forging process which was calibrated earlier. The process variables considered include the initial temperature of the billet and the die kinematics. Subsequently, an optimization algorithm is combined with the RSM to find the design variables giving minimum possible loads during deformation and finest possible grain sizes in the forged product. The RSMs results are validated by the use of the existing FE-model.

Recent developments in modeling of hot rolling processes: Part II - Applications

This publication gives a short overview of current developments in modeling and simulation of hot rolling processes of metals at the Institute of Metal Forming of RWTH Aachen University. It is based on the fundamentals treated in Part I also contained in this conference issue. It features applications in the field of fast on-line models, where a fast multi-stage rolling model and an analytical approach for predicting the through-thickness shear distribution are presented. In addition, a new concept for sensitivity analysis by automatic differentiation is introduced and discussed. Finally, applications of rolling simulations in the field of integrated computational materials engineering are presented with a focus on TWIP and linepipe steels as well as aluminum.

Die and Process Design for Hot Forging of a Gear Wheel – A Case Study

Gearing components are an example for widely used machining parts in engines. Nowadays the development and optimization of materials and process chains are driven towards a concurrent improvement of final product properties and production efficiency. Excellent mechanical properties needed for gearing components e.g. high load capacity and high fatigue resistance depend on a fine homogeneous microstructure in the final product. Efficiency in gear manufacturing can be optimized by increasing the temperature during processing, which allows for lower forging loads and lower die stresses, thus improving die life in terms of mechanical fatigue. Additionally, increasing the temperature during case hardening reduces the process duration significantly. Hence process efficiency also increases. To meet the need of a fine homogenous microstructure, dynamic recrystallization has to be initiated during hot forging and grain growth has to be avoided during dwell times and case hardening. This grain size control can be achieved by applying micro-alloying concepts. Recently, an Nb-Ti-based alloying concept for case hardening steels was introduced, which increases fine grain stability and therefore potentially allows for higher forging and case hardening temperatures, leading to improved process efficiency [1]. In this paper a 25MoCr4-Nb-Ti steel grade is characterized in terms of flow resistance and microstructure evolution by hot compression tests and annealing experiments. The processing limits of this material in terms of abnormal grain growth are determined and a JMAK-based microstructure model considering these limits is presented and implemented in the FE-Software DEFORM 3dTM. The model is used in a case study to design a laboratory scale forging process for lowest possible die stresses and finest possible grain sizes. Experimentally measured grain sizes and forging loads from forgings at the laboratory scale are used to evaluate the process design. It is shown that considering microstructure evolution in process design is absolutely necessary to jointly optimize for process efficiency and final properties. The application of the Nb-Ti-based micro-alloying concepts allows for lower die stresses and thus seems to reduce mechanical fatigue of the dies compared to conventional case-hardening steels. [1] S. Konovalov et. al.: Testcase gearing component. In: G. J. Schmitz, U. Prahl (Ed.): Integrative Computational Materials Engineering, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2012, ISBN 978-3-527-33081-2