Studying the Microstructure Evolution by Various Methods in the Development of New Combined Deformation Processes

When studying the microstructure, the key parameters for the researcher are the size and shape of metal grains after one or another mechanical or thermal treatment. When developing a new technological process, one of the main tasks is to predict and possibly control the microstructure, which ultimately will allow to obtain products with specified properties. The paper presents the results of finite element modeling of the microstructure evolution obtained during the development and research of new metal forming processes "rolling-ECAP" with vertical and horizontal rolls and "ECAP-Linex", which are combined schemes of two discrete deformation processes. JMAK and Cellular Automata methods were used to model the microstructure. It is shown that both methods give good convergence results. At the same time, the use of the Cellular Automata method gives an advantage over the JMAK method in obtaining data not only on changes in grain size, but also its shape – in the longitudinal direction, the grains receive a slight elongation due to the advance when metal is captured by rolls or chain conveyor elements.