Constitutive Modeling of the Flow Stress of GCr15 Continuous Casting Bloom in the Heavy Reduction Process

Abstract

According to the calculation results of a 3D thermomechanical-coupled finite-element (FE) model of GCr15 bearing steel bloom during a heavy reduction (HR) process, the variation ranges in the strain rate and strain under HR were described. In addition, the hot deformation behavior of the GCr15 bearing steel was studied over the temperature range from 1023 K to 1573 K (750 °C to 1300 °C) with strain rates of 0.001, 0.01, and 0.1 s⁻¹ in single-pass thermosimulation compression experiments. To ensure the accuracy of the constitutive model, the temperature range was divided into two temperature intervals according to the fully austenitic temperature of GCr15 steel [1173 K (900 °C)]. Two sets of material parameters for the constitutive model were derived based on the true stress–strain curves of the two temperature intervals. A flow stress constitutive model was established using a revised Arrhenius-type constitutive equation, which considers the relationships among the material parameters and true strain. This equation describes dynamic softening during hot compression processes. Considering the effect of glide and climb on the deformation mechanism, the Arrhenius-type constitutive equation was modified by a physically based approach. This model is the most accurate over the temperatures ranging from 1173 K to 1573 K (900 °C to 1300 °C) under HR deformation conditions (ignoring the range from 1273 K to 1573 K (1000 °C to 1300 °C) with a strain rate of 0.1 s⁻¹). To ensure the convergence of the FE calculation, an approximated method was used to estimate the flow stress at temperatures greater than 1573 K (1300 °C).