Cosserat continuum modelling of grain size effects in metal polycrystals

The global response of polycrystalline aggregates is investigated, in order to simulate grain size effects in IF ferritic steels. The mechanics of generalized continua is used to describe the studied phenomena. The polycrystal is regarded as a heterogeneous Cosserat medium, and the overall properties are estimated using a specific homogenization technique. To illustrate the capabilities of the model, some simple bidimensionnal computations are presented for different grain sizes. Afterwards tridimensionnal computations are shown in order to extract the global effect on the mechanical behaviour for grain sizes ranging from 5 µm to 120 µm. The finite element response is harder for the smallest grain size, but the model still underestimate the grain size effect on the tensile response. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)