The evolution of the microstructure in AISI 304L stainless steel during the flat rolling - modeling by frontal cellular automata and verification

The use of appropriate forming processes allows to obtain materials of required shapes, structures and properties. The technological conditions of the process can be optimized in view of the final microstructure. It can be achieved using different modeling methods, but recently use of cellular automata remains on the high level of interest. The aim of the study is a development and verification of the model of microstructure evolution during the flat rolling process. The microstructural model is based on frontal cellular automata, which uses for simulation of the rolling process of AISI 304L stainless steel. Modeling can be done on the basis of the general characteristics of the process i.e. the information about the duration of plastic deformation, time intervals between the passes, temperature and strain rate. The paper presents the modeling results of flat rolling process of AISI 304L stainless steel for different processing conditions. The modeling of three passes is presented. The results of the microstructure evolution can be observed as the microstructure maps at the selected time moments, as well as changes of average grain size, grain size distribution, fraction of recrystallization and flow stress. Some of the simulation results are verified with the experimental data. Model shows the high flexibility, allowing to take into account the various processing parameters. Simulation results are similar to the real processing conditions. It can be considered as a new tool for the development and optimization of flat rolling in view of final microstructure.