M - Synergy between modeling and experiments: from atomic to macroscopic scales

Symposium organizers

Hosni Idrissi (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
Ricardo Lebensohn (Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA)
Wolfgang Pantleon (Technical University of Denmark, Denmark)
Stefan Sandfeld (Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany)
Ruth Schwaiger (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
Chadwick Sinclair (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Döme Tanguy (Université de Lyon 1-CNRS, France)
Manas V. Upadhyay (Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland) - point of contact

Symposium description

Mechanical behavior of crystalline materials strongly depends on the microstructure and its evolution at different length scales which is governed for instance by the crystallography, the point/line/surface defect content and distribution, grain morphology, or texture. Predicting macroscopic mechanical responses on the component or specimen scale requires models that appropriately describe the mesoscale response i.e. the evolution of the underlying microstructure, or intra- and inter-granular stresses. This is a challenging task and depends on finding and exploiting the synergies between modeling and experiments.

In recent years, mathematically rigorous single and poly-crystalline plasticity models have emerged that - guided by experiments - capture the physics behind dislocation accumulation and re-distribution responsible for the evolving microstructure. Among others, these have motivated the development of (i) hybrid approaches that couple different modeling frameworks at the same length scale, for example thermodynamically rigorous phase field models augmented with dislocation transport theory, and (ii) multiscale models that include well- defined information transfer between different time/length scales comparable to those of experiments. The predictive capabilities of these methods have strongly benefited from the connection with experiments e.g. for validating structure-property relations or obtaining physical initial states.

This highlights the need to direct further efforts towards enhancing the modeling experimental synergy. On one hand, experimental techniques exist which are suitable for direct comparison with model predictions if fully exploited. These include in-situ and ex-situ neutron and x-ray diffraction, strain mapping, TEM, SEM, HR-TEM, APT, HR analytical TEM and can be complimented with initial microstructure characterization using advanced orientation mapping techniques such as 3D EBSD, ACOM TEM and 3D XRD microscopy. On the other hand, with the acquired physics knowledge base, simulations may guide experiments and point them into new directions.

This symposium will gather researchers working on the state-of-the-art of multiscale modeling of materials, microstructure characterization, and small-scale mechanical testing providing input for models on all relevant length and time scales. It will provide a platform for exchanging views and ideas to promote and improve passage of information between simulations and experiments and for discussing success stories on synergies between modeling on different length/time scales and experiments. The symposium will include individual topics or combinations from the following non-exhaustive list:

• Advances in microstructural and mechanical characterization techniques to validate/provide input to mesoscale models for plasticity, fatigue, creep, fracture, etc.
• Development of physics-based and mathematically rigorous mesoscale models supported by and based on experiments and/or atomistic simulations.
• Application of combined approaches to exploit MMM-experimental synergies for prediction of the mechanical behavior of materials on different length scales.
• Multiscale tools to link experiments and models as well as data handling techniques relevant for topics of this symposium.
• Contributions to “Integrated Computational Materials Engineering” (ICME) and the “Materials Genome Initiative” (MGI).
• The symposium will host a session dedicated to the European M-ERA.NET project "FASS (Fatigue Simulation near Surfaces)" which has been funded in the 2012 call on ICME. 

Invited speakers

• William Curtin (EPFL, Switzerland)
  Predictive metallurgy: from quantum to continuum

• Christoph Gammar (Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science, Austria)
  Local strain measurements during in situ TEM deformation with nanobeam electron diffraction

• Riccardo Gatti (CNRS/ONERA, France)
  Modelling plastic deformation in micro- and nano- samples using the Discrete-Continuum Model

• Christoph Kirchlechner (Max-Planck-Institute für Eisenforschung GmbH, Germany)
  Dislocation transfer through twin-boundaries analyzed by x-ray µLaue diffraction

• Thomas Pardoen (Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
  Dislocation and back stress dominated viscoplasticity in freestanding sub-micron Pd et Cu films

• Michael Sangid (Purdue University, USA)
  Coupling microstructure-sensitive modeling and in situ experiments to improve fatigue life predictions

• Carlos Tomé (LANL, USA)
  Using FFT-based simulations to incorporate local twinning features into Polycrystal Plasticity modeling

• Grethe Winther (Technical University of Denmark, Denmark)
  Analysis of experimental grain scale data in a crystal plasticity framework