Computer simulations of realistic microstructures of coarse constituent particles in a hot-rolled aluminum alloy

Computer simulations of realistic microstructures of coarse constituent particles in hot-rolled 7075 Al-alloy plate are presented. These simulations incorporate realistic complex morphologies/shapes of the constituent particles as well as their spatially clustered non-uniform arrangements and partially anisotropic morphological orientations. The methodology permits simulations of sufficiently large microstructural windows that incorporate short-range (on the order of particle/feature size) as well as long-range (few hundred times the particle/feature size) microstructural heterogeneities and spatial patterns. Two-point correlation functions are used for microstructure representation. The two-point correlation functions of the simulated microstructures are closely matched with those of the corresponding real microstructures. The simulation parameters enable simulations of virtual microstructures of the alloy that cover a range of different volume fractions and average sizes of the constituent particles.