Project Fact Sheet 
TWO-PHASE HOT DEFORMATION MODEL 



 

	



	 
				
	 
	 
 
 	 
 
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DEVELOPMENT OF A TWO-PHASE MODEL FOR THE HOT 
DEFORMATION OF HIGHLY-ALLOYED ALUMINUM 
Conventional processing methods for highly alloyed aluminum consist of ingot 
casting, followed by hot rolling and thermal treatments. Highly alloyed metals are 
more susceptible to the development of defects in hot rolling, due to localized 
melting along the chemistry-rich grain boundaries. Defects result in lost 
productivity and wasted energy because of the need to remelt and reprocess the 
material. Improved quality and yield for both conventional hot rolling and 
continuous casting will be achieved only through understanding of the flow of the 
alloyed aluminum at temperatures approaching the melting point. 
This research is developing a fundamental understanding of deformation of 
wrought alloys with emphasis on the upper temperatures bounding the hot working 
regime. Traditional constitutive models consider the alloy as a single phase 
system. This research is developing a two-phase (grain interior and boundary) 
mathematical description. The focus on hot rolling provides a computation 
platform for optimization of the Thermomechanical Processing Window (TPW) 
within industrial capabilities of temperature and deformation rate. This research 
will provide the computational tools to allow "faster and cooler" processing of 
highly alloyed aluminum. 




	

 
The micrograph on the left shows TEM characterization of the precipitate structure. The 
model on the bottom right is a computer simulation of the hot rolling process. 
OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES 
ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

	

 
Goals: This research is developing a mathematical description for the hightemperature 
deformation of aluminum alloys using a two-phase model. 
The specific goals of this research are to: 
• gain improved fundamental understanding of hot deformation in highly alloyed 
systems of commercial relevance; 
• formulate a material description for hot deformation of aluminum alloys that 
accounts for temperature-dependent response of the grain boundaries; 
• integrate the resulting material model into parallel finite element codes; and, 
• conduct detailed analysis specific to production hot rolling, while developing a 
general framework for simulation of other hot deformation processes. 







 
Year One 
• Measure properties of bulk compression 
• Design and complete successful trial of tension test fixture 
Year Two 
• Conduct mechanism identification through in-situ Transmission Electron 
Microscopy (TEM) testing 
• Formulate constitutive model based on TEM results 
• Fit parameters to match bulk test data 
Year Three 
• Validate computer simulation through comparison to in-situ TEM results 
• Simulation of hot rolling process 



 
The technology developed within this project will be made available to the 
aluminum community through journal publications and/or technical presentations. 
Industry will incorporate this knowledge to facilitate commercialization. 


	

 
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