OOF System for Simulating Measurements of Material
Microstructure Released
November 1998
The behavior of a material on the macroscopic scale depends to a large
extent on its microstructure, the complex ensemble of polycrystalline
grains, second phases, cracks, pores, and other features existing on
length scales large compared to atomic sizes. In September, Steve
Langer of ITL's Mathematical and Computational Sciences Division,
Craig Carter, of MIT (formerly of MSEL's Ceramics Division), and Edwin
Fuller of MSEL's Ceramics Division, together with MSEL's Center for
Theoretical and Computational Materials Science, released version 1.0
of OOF, a finite-element program for analyzing material
microstructures and conducting simulated physical property
measurements on those microstructures. OOF allows materials
scientists to determine the influence of microstructure on a
material's macroscopic properties through an easy-to-use graphical
interface.
The OOF user begins with a realistic microstructural geometry by
loading a two dimensional image of a real or simulated material into
the program. Features in the image (e.g, grains, pores, and grain
boundaries) are identified and assigned local material properties
(e.g. crystalline symmetry and orientation, elastic constants, or
thermal expansion coefficients). By applying stresses, strains, or
temperature changes the user can measure the effective macroscopic
material behavior, or can examine internal stress, strain, and energy
density distributions. By modifying a microscopic material property,
the user can find the effect of that property on the macroscopic
behavior, or by modifying the microstructure, the effect of geometry
on a particular material can be determined. OOF currently handles only
thermoelasticity, but extensions to other material properties are
planned.
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