Modeling the Dynamic Recrystallization by Using Cellular Automaton: The Current Status, Challenges and Future Prospects, a Review

Mechanical properties of metals are substantially dependent on the microstructure, which can be controlled by thermo-mechanical parameters such as temperature, strain, and strain rate. Hence, understanding the microstructural evolution of alloys during the hot deformation is crucial to engineer the metal forming processes. The main objective of this work is to present an overview of cellular automaton (CA) modeling to predictthe microstructure of alloys experienced the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) phenomenon. In this review paper, first, overall descriptions about the DRX phenomenon and the CA modeling are presented. Then, the CA modeling procedure is compared with similar methods. Meanwhile, related studies in the field of the DRX simulation by using the CA modeling are evaluated. Four main stages of the CA modeling are analyzed in terms of the “nucleation”, “growth”, “topological changes” and “texture evaluation” steps. Most important limitations including the calibration sensitivity, limitations in modeling the continuous DRX, ignoring microstructural effects on the deformation behavior, limited applications, and limited database as well as the saturation in published works are discussed and then objective suggestions are presented to overcome these limitations. Finally, prospects in the CA modeling of DRX are provided in the last section.