Analysis of surface roughness evolution of ferritic stainless steel using crystal plasticity finite element method

In order to evaluate the surface quality of ferritic stainless steel (FSS) sheets tensile deformation, a crystal plasticity (CP) model, in which the constitutive laws were incorporated with the consideration of the heterogeneous distribution of the properties of grains, was established to analyse the effect of texture, grain sizes and initial surface roughness on the surface roughness evolution of FSS sheets. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) tests were performed to characterise the texture and the grains. A tensile test of the represent volume was simulated and further verified by experimental results. The numerical simulation results indicate that the surface roughness is dependent almost linearly on the average grain size. The {001}(110) and the {112}(110) components induce remarkable undulation on the surface of FSS sheets during uniaxial tension. The surface topology of FSS sheets after tensile deformation are obtained using 3D laser scanning microscope, which shows an agreement with the simulated results.