Planned Research Projects

Development of multi-phase advanced high strength steels (AHSS) for automotive application
Despite a significant advancements in the area of AHSS, usage of these steels are still very limited in the automotive industries which is the primary motivation of present research work. This project aims to develop a lightweight and crash-worthy multi-phase structural steel using microstructure-property relationship. Experimental activities involves specific heat treatments for adjusting the volume of different phases and grain size, cold rolling or annealing to alter the dislocation density, different mechanical testing and material characterization. Crystal plasticity constitutive model development specific to different phases such as ferrite, austenite and martensite will be complemented by the experimental inputs. Sophisticated micromechanical models embedded with different possible deformation mechanisms For now, the plan is to work on Dual Phase (DP) steels, Martensitic steels, Transformation-Induced Plasticity (TRIP) Steels, and Twinning-Induced Plasticity (TWIP) steels. Past research experience of the group with crystal plasticity modeling of different phases in steels and Material testing and characterization of different steels is proving to be instrumental for the success of this project. (Interested in this project?, just shoot an email on satyapriya.gupta@iitdh.ac.in with subject as "Project1:AHSS").

Physics based experimentally informed micro-mechanical modeling of Ni and Co-based superalloys for high temperature applications
In the broader perspective, this project aims at the development of Ni-based superalloys with better heat resistance, higher fuel efficiency, and low carbon emission to meet extraordinary demands of aerospace industries. Under the scope of this project, we plan to simulate the temperature and strain rate dependent uniaxial, fatigue, and creep behavior of the Ni and Co-based superalloys. We will observe the fracture, damage and alloy degradation on the microstructural level. Modeling and simulation aspect of the project will include utilization of crystal plasticity and discrete dislocation dynamics approaches including some inputs obtained from atomistic simulations. Experimental part of the project will include heat treatment, mechanical testings, and material characterization of the single crystal and polycrystalline superalloys processed using casting, forging, and additive manufacturing. EICMD group has already started with the conceptualization and macroscopic model developed part of this project. (Interested in this project?, just shoot an email on satyapriya.gupta@iitdh.ac.in with subject as "Project2:Ni-based_superalloy")

Crystal plasticity modeling of discrete evolution of mechanical twinning in HCP metals and alloys based on experimental observations
The ultimate goal of this project is to improve the room temperature formability of the hexagonal (HCP) technological and structural alloys without sacrificing the strength. This is possible by understanding the formation of frequently observed mechanical twinning (both in two and three dimensions), their interaction with dislocation slip, and the consequences of the highly localized deformation caused by them. In this regard, modeling of discrete/binary evolution of mechanical twins within the full-field crystal plasticity framework of DAMASK (open source simulation kit) is far more advantageous as compared to conventional descriptions that are spatially homogenized and show only limited predictive capability. Experimental support including mechanical testing, and two and three dimensional characterization data of mechanical twins obtained from internal or external sources will complement the model development efforts. This model could be easily extended for other HCP metals such as Ti or Zr which is an added advantage of this project. This investigation has been equally divided into experimental and numerical segments. (Interested in this project?, just shoot an email on satyapriya.gupta@iitdh.ac.in with subject as "Project3:Deformation_twinning")

Microstructure based full field crystal plasticity simulations for additively manufactured (AM) structural materials

Ever growing use of additive manufacturing (AM) technology in different processing industries has revolutionized the way we look at manufacturing. However, AM still suffering from the scalability issue due to some key challenges that must be addressed for the widespread usage of this technology. Primary objective of this project is to improve consistency of the quality of structural alloys produced by AM which requires balanced combination of both experimental and simulation efforts. To this end, we concentrate on experimentally aided full field crystal plasticity modeling revealing the influence of different process and microstructural parameters on the micromechanical behavior of AM manufactured structural alloys. Initial and deformed microstructure obtained from characterization techniques (SEM, 2D and 3D EBSD, DAXM) will act as direct input to the full field CP simulations. This project is benefiting from the in-house 3D printing and material characterization facilities, in addition to pre-existing experience of the group with microstructure based crystal plasticity modeling. (Interested in this project?, just shoot an email on satyapriya.gupta@iitdh.ac.in with subject as "Project4:AM_full_fieldCP")

Establishing a link between discrete dislocation dynamic (DDD) simulation and Continuum dislocation dynamics (CDD).

This work is motivated by the urgent need of scale bridging between lower spatial and temporal dislocation dynamics approach and continuum dislocation crystal plasticity modeling. Calculation of average alignment and curvature tensor quantities by analyzing the complex DD data could be very useful in this regard. There are several intellectual and practical benefits of using these tensor evaluations, such as, (1) alignment and curvature tensors can be directly used as input to dislocation based continuum plasticity simulation approaches which sets an excellent examples of multi-scale material modeling; (2) this approach can be directly applied to dislocation network output of any arbitrary segment based commercial DD codes; (3) resulting tensors are easy interpretation of extremely convoluted DD data and can be used for direct comparison of results from different DD simulations. Group has already made significant progress in this project and published couple of papers. (Interested in this project?, just shoot an email on satyapriya.gupta@iitdh.ac.in with subject as "Project5:DD2CDD")

Further Development of field dislocation mechanics (FDM) aided crystal plasticity model for Al-Cu-Li aerospace alloys.

Under the scope of this project, we have planned to model the influence of dislocation-solute (better known as PLC effect) and dislocation-precipitate interactions on the micro and macroscopic deformation behavior of Al-Cu-Li aerospace alloys with the support of experimental inputs. Core simulation activities under this project includes capturing the yield anisotropy, effect of different aging treatments, and effect of precipitation on dislocation-solute interactions using mesoscopic field dislocation mechanics model. Experimental inputs for the micromechanical model will be obtained by mechanical testing, material characterization and in-situ digital image correlation (DIC) strain mapping of Al-Li alloys.

(Interested in this project?, just shoot an email on satyapriya.gupta@iitdh.ac.in with subject as "Project6:Al-Li-DSA")