Three-dimensional crystal plasticity finite element analysis of microstructure and texture evolution during channel die compression of IF steel

[Display omitted] •Channel die compression of an IF steel was investigated by fully 3-D CPFEM.•Microstructure and texture evolution at the mesoscale was simulated.•Direct mapping method is recommended after remeshing due to severe mesh distortion.•Microstructural heterogeneity was analyzed with rotation and misorientation angles.•Grains close to α- and γ-fibers tend to rotate less than other grains. In the present study, three-dimensional crystal plasticity finite element method (CPFEM) is used to simulate microstructure and texture evolution during channel die compression of a body-centered cubic (BCC) polycrystalline material of interstitial free (IF) steel. Microstructural heterogeneity and anisotropy were taken into account by assigning a crystal orientation to each integration point of the element and determining the stiffness matrix of the individual crystal. A numerical technique for direct data mapping of Euler angles and critical resolved shear stress is also suggested. Based on the experimental observation by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurement of an as-received IF steel sheet, representative volume element (RVE) of the initial microstructure was generated by using the Voronoi tessellation scheme. The microstructure and texture evolution during channel die compression of IF steel is investigated by comparing results numerically predicted by the CPFEM with the microstructure experimentally measured by the EBSD. From the contour maps and distributions of the rotation and misorientation angles, it was revealed that the rotation of crystals is apparently influenced by both the individual orientation itself and the interaction with neighboring crystals. Furthermore, the orientations, which exhibit small rotation and misorientation angles, are the ones initially oriented along the α- and γ-fibers and hardly change despite the increase in the plastic deformation.