Automatic processing of an orientation map into a finite element mesh that conforms to grain boundaries

A new procedure for microstructure-based finite element modeling of polycrystalline aggregates is presented. The proposed method relies (i) on an efficient graph-based community detection algorithm for crystallographic data segmentation and feature contour extraction and (ii) on the generation of selectively refined meshes conforming to grain boundaries. It constitutes a versatile and close to automatic environment for meshing complex microstructures. The procedure is illustrated with polycrystal microstructures characterized by orientation imaging microscopy. Hot deformation of a Duplex stainless steel is investigated based on ex-situ EBSD measurements performed on the same region of interest before and after deformation. A finite element mesh representing the initial microstructure is generated and then used in a crystal plasticity simulation of the plane strain compression. Simulation results and experiments are in relatively good agreement, confirming a large potential for such directly coupled experimental and modeling analyses, which is facilitated by the present image-based meshing procedure.