In industrial forming processes, the metals and alloys are subject to complex strain, strain-rate, and temperature histories. Understanding the flow behaviors of metals and alloys in hot working has a great importance for designers of metal forming processes. In order to study the workability and establish the optimum hot formation processing parameters for some metals and alloys, a number of research groups have made efforts to carry out the thermo-mechanical experiments (compressive, tensile and torsion tests) over wide forming temperatures and strain-rates, and some constitutive equations were developed to describe the hot deformation behaviors. This paper presents a critical review on some experimental results and constitutive descriptions for metals and alloys in hot working, which were reported in international publications in recent years. In this review paper, the constitutive models are divided into three categories, including the phenomenological, physical-based and artificial neural network models, to introduce their developments, prediction capabilities, and application scopes, respectively. Additionally, some limitations and objective suggestions for the further development of constitutive descriptions for metals and alloys in hot working are proposed.

The hot compressive behaviors of a typical Ni-based superalloy are investigated by hot compression tests under the strain rates of 0.001–1 s−1 and deformation temperatures of 920–1040 °C. It is found that the dynamic recrystallization is the main softening mechanism for the studied superalloy during hot deformation. The deformation temperature and strain rate have a significant influence on the dynamically recrystallized grain size. Based on the experimental results, an inverse power law equation is established to describe the relationship between the dynamically recrystallized grain size and the steady-state flow stress. A cellular automaton model with probabilistic state switches is established to simulate the dynamic recrystallization behaviors of the studied superalloy. The flow stress and the dynamically recrystallized grain size can be well predicted by the established model. Then, the dynamic recrystallization kinetic and the evolutions of the average grain size and grain boundary fraction are studied based on the simulated results. The simulated results show that the dynamic recrystallization is initially heterogeneous, and gradually becomes homogeneous with the increase of the volume fraction of dynamic recrystallization. With the increase of strain, the average grain size decreases, while the grain boundary fraction increases. Furthermore, the average grain size and the grain boundary fraction remain relatively constant when the deformation is under a steady state.

Hot deformation behavior of an aged inconel 718 superalloy is investigated by isothermal compression tests over wide ranges of strain rate and deformation temperature. In this study, the effects of hot deformation parameters (deformation temperature and strain rate) on flow stress are analyzed. It is found that the flow stress of the studied superalloy is significantly affected by deformation temperature and strain rate. The flow stress decreases with the decrease of strain rate or the increase of deformation temperature. Based on the experimental results, a new constitutive model is developed to describe the hot deformation behavior. For the work hardening-dynamic recovery stage, an isotropic internal variable is used to represent the plastic deformation resistance, and a viscoplastic constitutive model is developed to describe the work hardening and dynamic recovery behavior. For the dynamic softening stage, the phenomenological constitutive models, which consider the coupled effects of deformation temperature, strain rate and strain on hot deformation behavior, are developed. The predicted flow stresses are in a good agreement with the experimental ones, indicating that the developed models can accurately characterize the hot deformation behavior of the studied Ni-based superalloy.

Hot deformation behaviors of a typical nickel-based superalloy are investigated by isothermal compression tests under the deformation temperature range of 920-1040 OC and strain rate range of 0.001-0.1 s-1. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technique and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are employed to study the evolution of hot deformed microstructures. It is found that the fraction of low angle grain boundaries decreases with the increase of deformation temperature or the decrease of strain rate. This is related to the decrease of dynamic recrystallization degree under the low deformation temperature or high strain rate. The fraction of low angle grain boundaries shows a rapid increase at the relatively small deformation degree, and then a significant decrease due to the progress of dynamic recrystallization (DRX). The microstructural changes indicate that both continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) and discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) take place during hot deformation. However, the small fraction of low angle boundaries with 10-15o misorientation indicates that the CDRX plays a minor role on the nucleation of dynamic recrystallization. Discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) characterized by grain boundary bulging is the dominant nucleation mechanism for the studied superalloy.

Hot compressive tests of a nickel-based superalloy are performed under the strain rate range of 0.001–1 s−1 and deformation temperature range of 920–1040 °C. Optical microscopy (OM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are employed to investigate the evolution of dynamic recrystallized (DRX) grain and dislocation substructure. It is found that the effects of deformation degree, strain rate and deformation temperature on DRX grain are significant. When the deformation degree or temperature is increased, the number of DRX grains rapidly increases. But, the increase of strain rate reduces the number of DRX grains. The dislocation substructure is also very sensitive to the deformation degree, strain rate and deformation temperature. With the increase of deformation degree, the evolution of dislocation substructure can be characterized as: high dislocation density → dislocation network → subgrain → DRX grain. Under high deformation temperatures or low strain rates, the dislocation substructure can be easily annihilated and rearranged because of the occurrence of DRX. Based on the evaluated DRX volume fractions, the contour map is constructed to optimize the hot deformation parameters.