Multiscale computational modeling of the microstructural evolution and plasticity in metallic alloys

Abstract

Malleability and ductility are distinguishing features of many metals and metallic alloys, which implies that those materials can be plastically deformed upon mechanical load before a fracture occurs. This plays an important role in the fabrication processes, as well as in the several technological applications of thosematerials. Nevertheless, those properties depend on the chemical composition (i.e., the alloying elements found in the host matrix) and the microstructural features (e.g., more than one phase, average grain size, precipitates, and so on). The plasticity and microstructural evolution of metallic alloys have been experimentallyand theoretically investigated since a long time. In the last decades, modeling such phenomena at the atomic level became possible due to the availability of massively parallel machines and the development of optimized computercodes. In the framework of this project, the mobility of dislocations interactingwith obstacles (e.g., Cottrell atmospheres or nanoprecipitates), the response of metallic alloys with nanometer sized grains to traction forces, the effect of alloying elements on the growth of nanometric grains, and the mobility of interfaces during phase transformations will be studied by using computational methods suchas molecular dynamics with empirical potentials and Monte Carlo. (AU)