VAMPYR: A MATLAB-Based Toolset Leveraging MTEX for Automating VPSC

Mean-field crystal plasticity models, like the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) model, are an important component of the integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) workflow in metallurgy. Their computational efficiency in comparison to full-field models enables high-throughput investigations of texture evolution and simplifies integration into multiscale models. VPSC, being arguably the most ubiquitous of these models, is both a powerful tool for experienced computational researchers and a common entry point to simulations for primarily experimental metallurgists. The original FORTRAN implementation of VPSC has a plaintext interface that causes challenges for new users and makes high-throughput VPSC simulations difficult to set up. In this work, a MATLAB-based application programming interface (API) making use of the MTEX crystallographic toolbox is developed in order to provide an intuitive, script-based interface for VPSC. Named VPSC Automation in MTEX for Polycrystal plasticitY Research (VAMPYR) (VPSC Automation in MTEX for Polycrystal plasticitY Research), the API encourages a workflow which enables quick development of high-throughput experiments or multiscale models using VPSC; VAMPYR also includes ease-of-use functions for extracting input data from experimental sources and generating data visualizations of simulation results. An example case of optimizing Voce hardening law parameters to match experimental stress–strain curves demonstrates the process of developing a script to run VPSC using the API.