Influence of transient strain rates on material flow stress and microstructure evolution

A comprehensive knowledge about the material flow stress is a key parameter for a reliable design of hot forming processes using Finite Element (FE) software codes. Due to the microstructure evolution caused by the interaction of hardening and softening phenomena that take place during hot forming operations, the material flow stress is influenced by strain rate and temperature. While transient strain rates and temperatures typically characterize the industrial forming processes, the flow curves used in FE simulations are normally determined at arbitrary constant temperatures and strain rates. To calculate the flow stress evolution in between the measured strain rates, FE programs use linear interpolation. Hence, the material relaxation behavior caused by the microstructure evolution during transient strain rates is not considered. Previous investigations by various authors have shown that for a rapid strain rate change by one order of magnitude significant deviations between measured flow stress and linear interpolation appear before the flow stress approximates the flow curve obtained at the new constant strain rate again. However as mentioned before, industrial forming processes are characterized by more or less smooth than instantaneous changes in strain rate. Therefore, in this study, changing strain rates with different linear slopes are investigated. For this purpose, isothermal cylinder compression tests of an industrial case hardening steel are conducted at elevated temperatures. The resulting flow stress is compared with the linear interpolation of the flow curves determined at constant strain rates. Additionally, the grain size evolution during the strain rate change is analyzed to better understand the microstructural changes. The current investigation shows that the slope of the strain rate increase significantly influences the deviation from the linear interpolation. This observation can be explained by the time dependent microstructure evolution during deformation at elevated temperatures