A mean-field homogenization approach to predict fracture in as-quenched microstructures of Ductibor® 500-AS steel: characterization and modelling

•Fracture characterization of as-quenched microstructures of Ductibor® 500-AS.•Mean-field homogenization modelling of the flow behavior.•Modelling of fracture using a coupled micromechanical-phenomenological approach.•Micro-scale analyses of the mechanical response of as-quenched microstructures. Ductibor® 500-AS is a hot-stamping steel that has been designed to introduce local ductile regions within hot-stamped tailor-welded blanks (TWBs) used for energy-absorbing sections of automotive structures. This study investigates the flow and fracture behavior of a range of the microstructures of this alloy, corresponding to mostly ferritic (~96% ferrite plus 4% martensite), intermediate ferritic + martensitic (~57% ferrite plus 43% martensite), and mostly martensitic (~10% ferrite plus 90% martensite), obtained by applying various quench rates after austenitization. A series of mechanical tests in various stress states, ranging from simple shear to biaxial tension, was performed to characterize fracture for the developed microstructures. A mean-field homogenization (MFH) technique was then used to predict the flow and fracture response as a function of the microstructure. An MFH scheme designated as the interpolative Samadian-Butcher-Worswick 1 (INSBW1) within the first-order secant-based linearization method was considered to predict the macroscopic hardening behavior of the ferritic-martensitic microstructures. In the MFH modelling, the flow response of the ferritic and martensitic phases was modelled based on a dislocation-based hardening model, taking into account the chemical composition, carbon partitioning between phases, and dislocation generation and annihilation. Damage accumulation and the onset of fracture were predicted using a phenomenological damage indicator defined within each constituent phase given their calculated fracture loci and instantaneous stress and strain states. The experimental results showed that the mostly-martensitic microstructure had the lowest ductility and highest strength, and ductility and strength increased and decreased, respectively, as the martensite volume fraction in the microstructure decreased. The predicted flow curves and fracture strains as well as the fracture-limit curves for all of the microstructures agreed well with the measured data and interpolated modified Mohr-Coulomb (MMC) fracture loci.