Numerical prediction of austenite grain size in round-oval-round bar rolling

In bar or rod rolling process, improvement of mechanical properties of the hot rolled products requires numerical prediction of austenite grain size (AGS) for better controlling the microstructural evolution. In this study, a fully three-dimensional finite element (FE) program, which can simulate three-dimensional deformation and heat transfer was integrated with an AGS evolution model available in the literature. It was applied to a four-pass round-oval-round rolling sequence to characterize the AGS distributions depending on the change of roll gap and rolling speed. The predicted AGS distribution obtained from the FE based approach was compared with that obtained from the approximate analytical approach based on elementary theory of plasticity, developed for practical purpose. It was found out that reducing roll gap and increasing the rolling speed leads to fine and uniform grain distribution and recrystallization behavior divided into meta-dynamic and static recrystallization region, respectively. In addition, AGS predicted from the approximate analytical approach was in agreement with that from the FE based approach, but showed discrepancies at higher rolling speed conditions investigated in the present work.