Consulting Service

Crystal Plasticity Simulation Consulting

DAMASK-based modeling of how your material actually deforms — grain by grain, phase by phase — from constitutive model selection through calibration to results your reviewers, clients, or certification body will accept.

Who this is for

Research groups whose crystal plasticity study has to survive peer review at journals like the International Journal of Plasticity. PhD researchers whose model runs but whose calibration will not hold up to scrutiny. Industrial R&D teams who need to know why a material fails where it does, or whether a new alloy will meet spec, before committing to a processing route.

What an engagement covers

Model setup & formulation choice Phenomenological, dislocation-density-based, or damage-coupled — selected from your material's deformation physics and defensible in a methods section.
Hierarchical calibration Parameters anchored from literature and measurement where possible, fitted only where necessary, and validated against local fields you did not fit.
RVE construction from EBSD Synthetic microstructures statistically matched to your measured grain morphology and texture, with convergence demonstrated, not asserted.
Result interpretation Connecting simulated stress, strain, and damage fields to your experimental observations and to the decision or manuscript they need to support.
Publication support Methods documentation, reviewer-proofing, and framing — the difference between a methods paper and a contribution, covered in this guide.
Team training DAMASK workflow workshops for groups that want to run and extend the models themselves after the engagement ends.

Why me

39+peer-reviewed publications
1,230+citations, h-index 22
IJPpublished in the International Journal of Plasticity (2024)
10+ yrsexperimental + numerical materials research

My PhD at TU Bergakademie Freiberg (magna cum laude, best thesis prize) built coupled crystal plasticity models of deformation and damage in multi-phase metals. Since then I have calibrated and validated DAMASK models against in-situ tensile testing, EBSD, and digital image correlation for TRIP steel composites and aluminum alloys, co-edited an Elsevier book on the mechanics of new-generation metals, and taught these workflows publicly in tutorials and case studies.

As a process engineer at TSMC, I needed a very specific understanding of how microstructural mechanisms connect to real-world material behavior. Dr. Qayyum bridged that gap between academic rigor and engineering practice in a way I hadn’t found anywhere else. — Shao-Shen Tseng, Design Engineer, TSMC, Taiwan

How it works

  1. 15-minute call. You describe the material, the question, and the data you have. I tell you honestly whether crystal plasticity is the right tool for it — and if it is not, what is.
  2. Scoped proposal. Deliverables, timeline, and cost in writing before anything starts. Focused reviews run 1–2 weeks; full setup-and-calibration campaigns typically 4–12 weeks.
  3. Delivery. You get the model, input files, calibration documentation, and interpreted results — everything your group needs to keep working without me.

Common questions

What do you actually deliver?

Depending on scope: a working DAMASK model with the formulation justified, a calibrated and documented parameter set, an RVE built from your EBSD data with demonstrated convergence, interpreted results, and where the goal is publication, manuscript-level methods support. You keep everything.

What do I need to provide to start?

At minimum, the material system and the question. Ideally EBSD maps, tensile data at relevant conditions, and any local measurements (DIC, in-situ). Gaps are normal — identifying which measurements are worth commissioning is usually part of the first conversation.

How long does a project take?

A focused review of an existing model or dataset: 1–2 weeks. Full model setup and calibration: typically 4–12 weeks. A complete process–structure–property study with publication-ready results: several months. Scope is agreed before the start.

Do you work with industry or only academia?

Both. Academic engagements aim at publication-grade models and manuscripts. Industrial engagements aim at decisions: will this material meet spec, why does this component fail where it does, which processing route to pursue. Same modeling standard, different deliverable.

Why DAMASK and not a commercial code?

DAMASK is open source, developed at the Max-Planck-Institut in Düsseldorf, and supports phenomenological, dislocation-density, and damage-coupled formulations on a fast spectral solver. No license costs, reproducible by reviewers, and portable across your group after I am gone.

Start With 15 Minutes

Book a call. We will talk through your material, your data, and your question — and I will tell you honestly how I can help, or whether you do not need me at all.

Book a 15-Minute Call Send a Message

Related reading: How to publish DAMASK crystal plasticity research in the International Journal of Plasticity · What sheet metal forming simulation gets right