THREE DIMESIONAL SIMULATION OF

GRAIN GROWTH IN HEAT AFFECTED

ZONE OF LOW CARBON STEELS
USING MSc SOFTWARE

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

DR. R K SAXENA
SUBMITTED BY
SACHINRAJ KV
PGWLF-136105

CONTENTS

Introduction
Literature review
Objective
Methodology
References

INTRODUCTION

The welding microstructure evolution is very complicated because

the welding process is local and instantaneous.

It is established that welding heat input significantly affects the

microstructure and mechanical properties of the heat-affected zone
(HAZ).

Grain structure affects the strength, toughness, ductility and

corrosion resistance of alloys .

Studies of grain growth have been carried out for a long time and
computer simulations have provided a more convenient way to
understand the process of grain growth.

The simulations of grain growth in the heat affected zone

(HAZ) are widely used in different industries.

Grain growth simulation is especially attractive as the

statistical behavior of the atoms is properly reproduced, microstructural evolution depends only on the real topology of the
grains and not on any kind of geometric simplification

LITERATURE REVIEW
S.

Mishra, T. DebRoy researched on the simulation of grain growth

in the HAZ of Ti6Al4V welds and the results agreed well with
experimentally determined FZ geometry. The computed grain size
for various heat inputs agreed well with the corresponding
experimental data.

JINHUA GAO

and R. G. THOMPSON studied the monte carlo

simulation of normal grain growth .The results from this

simulation were shown to correlate well with the grain growth
during continuous heating of a beta titanium alloy.

CONT.

Yaowu Shi , Dong Chen, Yongping Lei and

Xiaoyan Li studied about HAZ microstructure simulation in
welding of a ultra fine grain SS400 steel and concluded that the
grain sizes of the CGHA Z obtained from MC simulation are
basically in agreement with the experimental measurement of the
real welded joints under different heat input. This is also proved
by the program develop.

Wei Y.H, Dong Z.B and Xiao J.L , in the paper 3D MC

simulation of grain growth in HAZ of stainless steel SUS316
concluded that a discontinous grain growth were noticed which
contradict with the simulated results.

OBJECTIVE
In the study, both numerical results obtained from the
simulation and experimental results will be compared
and both thermal pinning and precipitates pinning
effects will be taken into account to simulate grain
growth in HAZ of low carbon steel during Gas
Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) process.
By using heat transfer and fluid flow model, the
thermal process of welding that influences grain
structure will be simulated in the MSC Marc
software.

METHODOLOGY
1.

By using MSc MARC software a welded domain will be

generated which helps to predict the thermal cycles and
HAZ of the material.

2.

The results generated by the MARC will be imported into the

MATLAB from where the code will be developed for the
simulation of the grain structure.

3.

The simulated result will be further used to compare with the

experimental results.

For the completion of the thesis I am being awarded 01 year free

license subscription of MARC software by MSc software corp.

REFERENCES
1) Mishra, S., DebRoy, T., 2004. Measurements and Monte Carlo
simulation of grain growth in the heat-affected zone of Ti6Al
4V welds. Acta Mater. 52, 11831192.
2)Yang, Z., Sista, S., Elmer, J.W., DebRoy, T., 2000. Three
dimensional Monte Carlo simulation of grain growth during
GTA welding of titanium. Acta Mater. 48, 48134835
3) Yanhong Wei , Yanli Xu , Zhibo Dong , Xiaohong Zhan .Threedimensional Monte Carlo simulation of discontinuous grain
growth in HAZ of stainless steel dur ing GTAW process

4)J. Gao and R.G. Thompson, Real Time-Temperature Models for

Monte Carlo Simulations of Normal Grain Growth, Acta Metall.,
1996, 44,p 4565
5) Yaowu Shi, Dong Chen, Yongping Lei, Xiaoyan Li.
HAZ microstructure simulation in welding of a ultra
fine grain steel

T HAN

K YOU