Simulation of a wrought Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy during hot deformation based on constitutive modelling and process maps

The flow curves of a wrought Al-Cu-Mg-Ag within the temperature range 350–470 °C and strain rate range 0.01–10 s−1 were acquired through isothermal compression tests. Based on the corrected flow stress, an accurate constitutive model with an average absolute relative error of 3.98% and processing maps were constructed, the optimal hot working window was determined to be 390–470 °C & 0.01–1 s−1. Furthermore, according to EBSD characterization, the primary softening mechanism was believed to shift from dynamic recovery (DRV) to dynamic recrystallization (DRX) as temperature increased and strain rate decreased. Additionally, an instability prediction model and an identification model for the main softening mechanism were established, and subsequently embedded into the commercial software DEFORM along with the constitutive model to simulate the stress-strain state and the main microstructural evolution mechanisms. The accuracy of these models was validated through comparisons of simulated and tested forming loads as well as microstructure analysis.