A Software Platform Integrating Microstructure Modeling with Finite Element Method for Aerospace Metallic Materials

In response to the solicitation AF191-108, CompuTherm proposes a pilot project to develop a software platform, named PanBlock, for the simulation of microstructure evolution of metallic materials. The key features of this platform include (1) open architecture which allows convenient coupling with different FEM (finite element method) software packages for processing inputs, such as temperature, stress and strain fields; (2) modular design which allows easy replacement and swap of microstructure models and sub-models without requiring re-compiling the entire software package; (3) seamless integration with thermodynamic calculation engine which allows accurate input of phase information for technically important multi-component alloys. In Phase I, software architecture will be designed and a prototype software platform will be developed to validate the basic interfacing capability. Two bridges will be developed to interface PanBlock with ANSYS and ABAQUS. A thorough literature review will be performed to categorize microstructure evolution sub-models to be implemented into PanBlock in Phase II. While the purpose of Phase I is to prove the technical feasibility of the proposed approach, the ultimate goal of this project is to develop a platform with an open architecture for the modeling of microstructure evolution during conventional manufacturing processes.