A Unified Constitutive Equation of a Bainite Steel During Hot Deformation

A constitutive model has been established based on dislocation theory, work hardening and dynamic recovery theory, and softening mechanisms of dynamic recrystallization. The stress-strain curves of a bainite steel have been measured with hot compression experiments at temperatures of 1173, 1273, 1373 and 1473 K with strain rates of 0.01, 0.1, 1 and 10 s⁻¹ on a thermo-mechanical simulator (Gleeble-1500). The material constants involved in the constitutive model have been optimized by an inverse analysis of the stress-strain curves using the method of coordinate rotation, determining the strain-stress relationship or the constitutive equation, the kinetic models of dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization, and a few material constants of the investigated steel. Comparison of the calculated flow stress with the experimental data suggests that the relationship between the flow stress and the strain rate, temperature, strain of the steel during hot deformation can be described by the constitutive model, and that the underlying materials science can be captured from the material constants determined by the stress-strain curves.