Simulation of static softening behavior of an aluminum alloy after cold strip rolling

In this work, softening kinetics after cold rolling has been simulated using a coupled finite element-cellular automata model. Firstly, a two-dimensional rigid plastic finite element analysis has been developed to assess strain field and the stored energy accumulation during cold rolling as well as the initial condition of the mesoscopic model. Then, the cellular automata scheme has been employed to calculate the progress of static recrystallization at a given temperature while a dislocation-base model was simultaneously utilized to consider the effect of recovery on static softening process and final microstructures. The model has been examined on isothermal annealing of cold rolled AA5052 and a good agreement was found between the experimental observations and the predicted results.