The cellular automata (CA) method has played an important role in the research and development of metallic materials. CA can interpret the microstructure changes of materials and obtain more abundant, accurate and intuitive information of microstructure evolution than conventional methods. CA can visually represent the process of grain formation, growth, development and change to us in a graphical way, which can assist us in analysis, thinking and solving problems. In the last five years, the application of CA in materials research has been rapidly developed, and CA has begun to occupy an increasingly important position in the simulation research of metallic materials. After introducing the advantages and limitations of CA compared to other widely used simulation methods, the purpose of this paper is to review the recent application progress on the microstructure simulation of metallic materials using CA, such as solidification, recrystallization, phase transformation and carbide precipitation occurring during forming and heat treatment. Specifically, recent research advances on microstructure simulation by CA in the fields of additive manufacturing, welding, asymmetrical rolling, corrosion prevention, etc., are also elaborated in this paper. Furthermore, this paper points out the future work direction of CA simulation in the research of metallic materials, especially in the simulation of the crystal structure, the prediction of mechanical properties, CA simulation software and rule systems, etc. These are expected to attract wide attention of researchers in the field of metallic materials and promote the development of CA in materials research.

To study the size effect on the properties of copper, tensile tests were performed with pure copper foil (thickness range from 25 μm to 300 μm) by cold rolling. A pronounced size effect was observed at a thickness of 76 μm. The results showed that ultimate strength increased as sample thickness decreased from 300 μm to 100 μm, however, this was decreased as the thickness changed from 76 μm to 25 μm with ultrahigh strain, with the same trend of dislocation density and micro stain. The rolling texture were consisted of copper {112}, brass {011}, and S {123}. These features seemed to be linked to the increase of fraction of surface grain to volume, which led to lower districting on the dislocation slip.

A copper foil with an extreme extensibility up to 43,684% was obtained without any intermediate annealing by means of asynchronous rolling with high tension. It was found that under the combination of compression, shearing and tension, the copper foil represents a wonderful phenomenon. As the reduction increases, the specimen hardness increases up to a peak value 138 HV0.05 when the foil thickness rolled to around 100 μm, and then it decreases down to 78 HV0.05 when the foil thickness rolled to the final size 19 μm. It tells us that the strain-softening effect occurs when the foil thickness is rolled down to a threshold level. The experimental results bring us some fresh ideas different with the traditional understanding on the strain-hardening mechanism of metals, which provides an experimental basis to establish the forming mechanism of the thin foil.