Modeling the dynamic recrystallization in austenitic stainless steel using cellular automaton method

The paper presents a two-dimensional CA approach for quantitative and topographic prediction of the microstructure evolution of 316LN austenitic stainless steel during hot deformation. To describe the effect of deformation on grain topology more accurately, an updated topology deformation technique was used in the built model, in which a cellular coordinate system and a material coordinate system were established separately. The cellular coordinate system remains unchangeable in the whole simulation; the material coordinate system and the corresponding grain boundary shape change with deformation. The grain topography, recrystallization fraction and average grain size were also obtained. The simulated results agree well with the experimental data in terms of average grain size and flow stress, suggesting that the developed CA model is a reliable numerical approach for predicting microstructure evolution during dynamic recrystallization (DRX) for the 316LN steel.