Microstructural modelling of metal formability

车辆效率(在燃料消耗方面)和减少二氧化碳排放仍然是一项重大挑战。汽车的重量可以通过使用高强度钢来减轻，只要它们具有金属成形操作所需的基本延展性。此外，汽车制造商对轻金属合金(镁和铝)非常感兴趣，因为它们的密度很低，而且增加使用将带来可观的重量(和能源)节省。然而，与钢相比，轻金属合金的延展性较低，这仍然是轻金属广泛取代钢的瓶颈。塑性是一种组织和温度敏感特性，通过组织控制可以提高轻金属(如铝、镁)和高强度钢(如双相钢)的塑性。拟议的研究将结合微观力学(先进的现实材料模型)、有限元方法和超级计算(并行计算)领域的最新进展，以实现数字工程微结构的最终目标，提供任何给定金属成形操作所需的必要成形性。

Vehicle efficiency (in terms of fuel consumption) and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions continues to be a major challenge. The weight of automobiles can be reduced by using high-strength steels as long as they have the essential ductility required in metal forming operations. Furthermore, light metal alloys (magnesium and aluminum) are of considerable interest to automobile manufacturers because of their low densities and the appreciable weight (and energy) savings that would result from increased use. However, the lower ductility of light metal alloys compared to steel continues to remain a bottleneck for widespread replacement of steel by light metals. Ductility is a microstructure and temperature-sensitive property and enhancement of the ductility of light metals (such as aluminum and magnesium) and high-strength steels (such as dual phase steels) could be achieved through microstrucutural control. The proposed research will combine the latest advancements in the field of micromechanics (advanced realistic material models), finite element methods and supercomputing (parallel computing) for the ultimate goal of numerically engineering microstructures that present the necessary formability desired for any given metal forming operation.