The Metal Phase Transformation interface (
) is found under the
Heat Transfer >
Metal Processing (
) branch when adding a physics interface. The physics interface is intended for studying metallurgical phase transformations. You can use this interface to study diffusional, displacive, and user-defined (solid state) phase transformations. Physical phenomena, such as latent heat of phase transformation and transformation strains, can be computed and used in Heat Transfer in Solids and Solid Mechanics. With the Nonlinear Structural Materials Module or the Geomechanics Module, plastic strains and hardening behavior of each metallurgical phase can be used in Solid Mechanics. Different sections of the
Settings panel will be active depending on the space dimension that the interface is used in, see
Table 4-1.
When the Metal Phase Transformation interface is added, three nodes are also added to the Model Builder — two
Metallurgical Phase nodes and one
Phase Transformation node. The phase transformation node will be set to use the two metallurgical phases as source and destination phases, respectively. From the
Physics toolbar, you can add additional metallurgical phases and phase transformations. You can also right-click
Metal Phase Transformation to select physics features from the context menu.
The Label is the default physics interface name.
The Name is used primarily as a scope prefix for variables defined by the physics interface. Refer to such physics interface variables in expressions using the pattern
<name>.<variable_name>. In order to distinguish between variables belonging to different physics interfaces, the
name string must be unique. Only letters, numbers, and underscores (_) are permitted in the
Name field. The first character must be a letter.
The default Name (for the first physics interface in the model) is
metp.
You have the option of letting the physics interface compute effective thermal, electromagnetic, and mechanical material properties, based on the corresponding properties and fractions of the individual metallurgical phases. Select the Compute effective material properties checkbox (selected by default) to let the physics interface compute effective thermal, electromagnetic, and mechanical material properties. You can use the computed effective material properties to create a compound material that can be used in other physics interfaces as a domain material. Select the
Create Compound Material to create a compound material. This material is created at the component level. It will hold material properties corresponding to the settings in the physics interface.
Phase transformations are inherently temperature dependent. Select the temperature field to use from the Temperature list. If you want to consider the release or absorption of latent heat during phase transformations, select the
Enable phase transformation latent heat checkbox. You can then define values for the latent heat at each of the phase transformation nodes. By default, the checkbox is not selected.
This section contains settings that affect various strains that accompany phase transformations. Select the Enable phase plasticity checkbox if you want to allow for plasticity in the individual phases. Select the
Enable transformation-induced plasticity checkbox if you want to include this type of transformation strain in your analysis. Select
Enable thermal strains if you want to include thermal strains in your analysis. Note that the thermal strains will include both pure thermal strains as well as strains that arise from volumetric differences between different metallurgical phases. If you have selected
Enable thermal strains, select a
Thermal strain formulation — Strain based or
Density based. By default, none of the three checkboxes in this section are selected. The
Enable phase plasticity and
Enable thermal strains checkboxes are visible only if you have selected the
Compute effective material properties checkbox in the
Material Properties section.
By default, bounds for computed phase fractions and their sum, are checked during a simulation. If you select Advanced Physics Options, the
Advanced section is used to modify the bounds that are used, or to disable the bounds checking altogether. When you have selected
Check phase fraction bounds, you can modify the:
