Development and applications of an adapted cellular automata algorithm for modeling recrystallization

The simulation of the evolution of the microstructure of a metal is a necessary element in the prediction of the mechanical properties of a virtually processed product. Part of an attempt to develop a semi-empirical model, allowing the prediction of microstructure evolution during virtual processing, is the development of a sufficiently fast and versatile algorithmic model for the recrystallization and grain growth processes. Hereto a three dimensional cellular automaton has been developed, which is original for its random cell grid, a reversed scheme for updating the cells during growth of the nuclei and the implementation of a block data structure for optimization of the computational resources. The implementation reported on here includes different nucleation and grain growth modes, including the dependence of these processes on the deformed crystal orientation distribution.