Set up and implementation of a numerical model for the simulation of heat treatment of duplex stainless steels

The simulation of metallurgical process is finding a continuously growing number of applications to industrial contests. This paper is aimed at setting up a numerical model describing the microstructural evolution of duplex stainless steels due to isothermal and anisothermal heat treatments, starting from experimental tests carried out on laboratory specimens. The model, based on the Avrami’s equation, is also implemented into a commercial simulation code, in order to calculate and visualise the distribution of phases resulting from heat treatments, with reference to industrially significant products