Micromechanical modeling of ferrite-pearlite steels using finite element unit cell models

An axisymmetric unit cell model based on a regular array of second-phase pa rticles arranged on a BCC lattice is used to study deformation mechanisms o f ferrite-pearlite structural steels. Microstructural characteristics of th e steels were parameterized by the pearlite volume fraction, the aspect rat io of the pearlite particles, and the neighboring factor, which represents the ratio of interparticle spacing in the longitudinal direction to that in the transverse direction. FE analyses were carried out to investigate the macroscopic and microscopic response of unit cells with morphological featu res based on idealizations of the microstructures of the actual steels. Ten sile properties of each constituent phase were obtained experimentally and used in the analyses. As compared to traditional axisymmetric models, the B CC cell model appears to be able to capture more realistically the behavior of the materials, and it accurately estimates the tensile behavior of the ferrite-pearlite steels even with a relatively large volume fraction of the pearlite phase. The effects of volume fraction and morphology of the secon d-phase particles on deformation behavior were also investigated.