Multiscale effect of thermomechanical loads on the NbC-Steel microstructure obtained by SPS

The ABAQUS ® commercial software was used to simulate by Finite Element Method (FEM) the stress and the strain fields due to the thermal and mechanical loads applied in the tool microstructure throughout hot forging operations. Therefore, the macroscale (loads applied in the tool) was adapted to the microscale (stress and strain developed in the microstructural features). Materials analyzed in this study, which are prospective to be used as tools, consisted of NbC and tool steel powders, which were mixed, and consolidated by SPS technique (Spark Plasma Sintering). NbC-Steel microstructure was firstly characterized by SEM and, thus it was meshed by OOF2