Experimental Investigations and Multiscale Modeling to Study the Effect of Sulfur Content on Formability of 16MnCr5 Alloy Steel

Abstract

Addition of Sulfur to iron alloys improves the machinability of the components but reduces the formability. In this research, effect of varying Sulfur content from 0.008% to 0.03% in 16MnCr5 alloy steel on the formability of this steel grade by employing different formability tests is carried out. Tensile testing, transverse extrusion testing, expansion testing, and compression testing of normalized and non‐normalized samples is carried out to investigate the deformation behavior. Numerical simulation model is developed on commercial FEM software ABAQUS using realistic material data and load history to get information about the distribution and evolution of strains and stresses in the samples for different formability test conditions. The ABAQUS Simulations results are compared with experimental observations and are found to be in agreement with less than 7% error. The maximum local strain distribution of the transverse extrusion test is used as a boundary condition to simulate the phase field DAMASK numerical simulation model in this research. Through these phase field simulations, the interplay of MnS inclusions with Ferrite, Pearlite phases at strains just before failure are analyzed. The study provides a detailed insight into the factors responsible for difference in formability of 16MnCr5 alloy steel due to varying Sulfur content.

Effect of the 3rd Dimension within the Representative Volume Element (RVE) on Damage Initiation and Propagation during Full-Phase Numerical Simulations of Single and Multi-Phase Steels

“…Stress accumulation on the tips of the initiated cracks further accelerates the material failure, and eventual rupture of the component occurs under externally applied loading conditions. This kind of ductile-brittle damage evolution has been reported by several researchers after the failure analysis of DP-steels [ 7 , 8 ]. These deformation, damage, and failure mechanisms are majorly microstructure dependent [ 13 , 14 ].…”

“…The damage evolution occurs due to the void coalescence in close proximity, forming micro-cracks. These cracks act as a stress localization zone, and under applied incremental load, the material fails due to rupture [ 7 , 8 ]. Ductile damage in such materials can be identified by the typical cup and cone-shaped marks on the fracture surface [ 9 , 10 ].…”

Modeling the Local Deformation and Transformation Behavior of Cast X8CrMnNi16-6-6 TRIP Steel and 10% Mg-PSZ Composite Using a Continuum Mechanics-Based Crystal Plasticity Model

“…These zones with a high transformed martensitic volume and a high dislocation density also bear the highest amount of stress during deformation. They are the most susceptible zones for void formation [17][18][19]48].…”

“…This increasing dislocation pinning results in higher dislocation densities, which further reduces the plastic flow of the material in these zones and results in the global hardening of the material. These zones with high transformed martensitic volume and high dislocation density also bear the highest amount of stress during deformation [17][18][19]48]. The evolution of dislocation density in the full phase model is shown in Figure 8a.…”

On Attempting to Create a Virtual Laboratory for Application-Oriented Microstructural Optimization of Multi-Phase Materials

“…In multi-phase steels, it is known from the literature [24,25,28,65,66] that the steel matrix endures most deformation, whereas due to the very high strength of ceramic particles, they undergo elastic deformation. Considering the complexity and detail associated with the steel matrix, the material model of the streel matrix is calibrated, and the ceramic particles are assigned elastic attributes.…”