Evaluation of Cellular Automata software and application to microstructure

The research institute Swerim provides applied research within mining engineering, process metallurgy and materials and manufacturing engineering, mainly for the mining, steel and metals industry. Swerim has 200 co-workers in two locations in Sweden - Luleå and Stockholm.

In any industrial activity, process optimization is a major concern as it allows to reduce costs and increase product quality. The increasing need for more advanced and high-performing materials has led to a high need for numerical simulations to optimize material properties and shorten the overall material development time.

Additive manufacturing is a production method with almost endless possibilities to combine laser parameters and scanning patterns. In turn, this determines the thermal evolution in the printed part, which strongly influences the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties. Simulating critical steps in the additive manufacturing process makes it possible to explore a larger space of processing parameters to optimize mechanical properties, without extensive amounts of actual manufacturing. Yet these process steps involve a lot of different physics at very different scales that today cannot be simulated altogether.

At the macroscale, finite element thermomechanical simulations of the additive manufacturing process give good estimates of distortions and residual stresses.

At the microscale, underlying microstructure -on which depend further mechanical properties- can be predicted with cellular automata. This simulation technique alloys to model the solidification process and assess the shape, the size and the orientations of the metal grains, se Fig.1. With this information at hand, crystal plasticity simulations can then be carried out to estimate mechanical properties.




Figure 1: Result of a cellular automata simulation [Gandin et al, Acta Mater. 44, 1996].


Project description
The project will focus on cellular automata simulations to model melt pool solidification and will be divided into the following parts:
* acquire theoretical knowledge on the cellular automata method,
* select one or a couple of cellular automata software for evaluation,
* create a systematic way to import data from finite element thermal analysis to the cellular automata software,
* run cellular automata simulations, carry out sensitivity studies and compare results with observation from microscopy (electron back-scattered diffraction orientation measurements),
* create a systematic way to export data into crystal plasticity software.

Required qualification
Student in solid mechanics or material science with good knowledge and high interest in numerical simulations. Any experience in programming is valuable.

Further information
Swerim rewards the student with 50 000 SEK for an approved master thesis (30hp). 
The work will be initiated at the beginning of 2024.

Contacts
For further information about project, please contact:

* Etienne Bonnaud, etienne.bonnaud@swerim.se or
* Niklas Holländer Pettersson, niklas.hollander-pettersson@swerim.se

Application
Apply by using the application function below by December 14, 2023. Please note that we fill the position as soon as we find a suitable applicant. You will receive a confirmation that Swerim has received your application.