Ultragrain refinement of plain low carbon steel by cold-rolling and annealing of martensite

Simple cold-rolling and annealing of martensite starting structure can produce ultrafine grained structure in carbon steel. The microstructural evolution during the process was studied in a 0.13%C steel. The ultrafine lamellar dislocation cells (LDCs) with mean thickness of 60 nm were mainly observed in a 50% cold-rolled specimen as well as the irregularly bent lamellas (IBLs) and the kinked laths (KLs). The LDCs and the IBLs had large local misorientations. The specimens annealed at temperatures from 723 to 773 K showed the multiphased ultrafine structure composed of equiaxed ultrafine ferrite grains with the mean grain size of 180 nm, nano-carbides distributed uniformly and small blocks of tempered martensite. The formation of the ultrafine grained structure was discussed from the viewpoint of characteristics of the martensite starting structure. It was concluded that the fine grained structure of martensite play an important role for ultrafine grain subdivision during plastic deformation.     

Enhanced mechanical stability of ultrafine grained steel through intercritical annealing cold rolled martensite

The ultrafine grained ferritic steels possess high strength but low ductility due to the shortage of work hardening.Fine grained ferrite-martensite dual phase microstructure was obtained in a microalloyed steel and low carbon steels through intercritical annealing of the cold rolled martensite.The dual phase microstructure was uniform and the ferrite grain size was smaller in the microalloyed steel resulted from the pinning effect of microalloyed precipitates.But ferrite grown apparently and the volume fraction of the martensite was much higher without the addition of microalloying elements.By introducing martensite into the fine grained ferrite,the work hardening was effectively improved,leading to better mechanical stability.As a result of the fine ferrite grain size as well as uniform distribution of the martensite,the work hardening was enhanced,showing better strength-ductility balance in the microalloyed dual phase steel.     

Granular Carbides-Assisted Ultrafine-Ferrite Fabrication in the Pearlitic SteelWithout Severe Plastic Deformation and Annealing

The evolution of ferrite grain and cementite lamella during cold rolling in a granular carbide-pearlite steel has been investigated. Particular attention has been given to a quantitative characterization of changes in the ferrite grains. Electron back-scattered diffraction and transmission electron microscopy observations show that the ultrafine ferrite (~388 nm) can be produced through low equivalent strain cold rolling without severe plastic deformation (SPD) and annealing. The average grain size of ferrite depends on the volume fraction, shape and distribution of granular carbides as well as interlamellar spacing of pearlite. A general explanation of granular carbides-assisted grain refinement is that the embedded carbides between natural barrier will significantly facilitate dislocation nucleation during cold rolling. Dislocation reaction occurs more drastically and quickly near these granular carbides. Such reactions promote the formation of high-angle grain boundaries. The formation of ultrafine ferrite grains and subgrains in steel after cold rolling to ε=1.4 strain makes the strength and ductility increased simultaneously compared with ε=0.6 cold-rolled steel. The results suggest a new material design strategy to obtain ultrafine-grained structure via the granular carbides assistance.     

Deformation behavior of thin copper films on deformable substrates

The role of strain hardening for the deformation of thin Cu films was investigated quantitatively by conducting specialized tensile testing allowing the simultaneous characterization of the film stress and the dislocation density as a function of plastic strain. The stress–strain behavior was studied as a function of microstructural parameters of the films, such as film thickness (0.4–3.2 μm), grain size and texture. It was found that the stress–strain behavior can be divided into three regimes, i.e. elastic, plastic with strong strain hardening and plastic with weak hardening. The flow stresses and the hardening rate increase with decreasing film thickness and/or grain size, and are about two times higher in (111)-grains compared to the (100)-grains. These effects will be discussed in the light of existing models for plastic deformation of thin films or fine grained metals.     

Mechanical Properties of Ultrafine Grained Steel Produced by Repetitive Cold Side Extrusion

Ultrafine grained microstructure was produced by repetitive deformation using the cold side-extrusion method from carbon steels. The side-extrusions with lateral pressure were repeated up to 10 passes without rotation. Each sample was uniformly deformed by the side-extrusion, and the equivalent strain was 1.15 after a single pass of the side-extrusion. After 10 passes of side-extrusion an ultrafine grained steel with a tensile strength of over 1000MPa a grain size of 0.5μm × 0.2 μm was developed for the ultra low carbon steel. The uniform elongation in tensile test for the steels after repetitive side extrusions was very small, but the cold formability was very good. By the heat treatment, the uniform elongation became larger.     

Multistage strain hardening through dislocation substructure and twinning in a high strength and ductile weight-reduced Fe–Mn–Al–C steel

We investigate the kinetics of the deformation structure evolution and its contribution to the strain hardening of a Fe–30.5Mn–2.1Al–1.2C (wt.%) steel during tensile deformation by means of transmission electron microscopy and electron channeling contrast imaging combined with electron backscatter diffraction. The alloy exhibits a superior combination of strength and ductility (ultimate tensile strength of 1.6 GPa and elongation to failure of 55%) due to the multiple-stage strain hardening. We explain this behavior in terms of dislocation substructure refinement and subsequent activation of deformation twinning. The early hardening stage is fully determined by the size of the dislocation substructure, namely, Taylor lattices, cell blocks and dislocation cells. The high carbon content in solid solution has a pronounced effect on the evolving dislocation substructure. We attribute this effect to the reduction of the dislocation cross-slip frequency by solute carbon. With increasing applied stress, the cross-slip frequency increases. This results in a gradual transition from planar (Taylor lattices) to wavy (cells, cell blocks) dislocation configurations. The size of such dislocation substructures scales inversely with the applied resolved stress. We do not observe the so-called microband-induced plasticity effect. In the present case, due to texture effects, microbanding is not favored during tensile deformation and, hence, has no effect on strain hardening.     

The formation of ultrafine ferrite through static transformation in low carbon steels

A novel approach was used to produce an ultrafine grain structure in low carbon steels with a wide range of hardenability. This included warm deformation of supercooled austenite followed by reheating in the austenite region and cooling (RHA). The ultrafine ferrite structure was independent of steel composition. However, the mechanism of ferrite refinement changed with the steel quench hardenability. In a relatively low hardenable steel, the ultrafine structure was produced through dynamic strain-induced transformation, whereas the ferrite refinement was formed by static transformation in steels with high quench hardenability. The use of a model Ni–30Fe austenitic alloy revealed that the deformation temperature has a strong effect on the nature of the intragranular defects. There was a transition temperature below which the cell dislocation structure changed to laminar microbands. It appears that the extreme refinement of ferrite is due to the formation of extensive high angle intragranular defects at these low deformation temperatures that then act as sites for static transformation.     

Three strategies to achieve uniform tensile deformation in a nanostructured metal

In nanostructured metals with grain sizes of the order of 100 nm, dislocation mechanisms remain dominant in controlling plastic deformation. These materials, similar to their coarse-grained counterparts that have been subjected to heavy cold work, can no longer go through the several strain hardening stages of normal metals and are hence susceptible to plastic instabilities such as necking in tension. For processing and applications, it is obviously important and often necessary to control such inhomogeneous plastic deformation. Here we demonstrate three strategies to achieve relatively large stable tensile deformation in nanostructured metals, using the pure Cu processed by equal channel angular pressing as a model. The first approach uses an in situ formed composite-like microstructure, such as a bimodal grain size distribution, to impart strain hardening to the material and attain large uniform tensile strains while maintaining the majority of the strengthening brought forth by nanostructuring. In the second route, deformation is conducted at low temperatures, such as 77 K. The material regains the ability to work harden due to suppressed dynamic recovery. Uniform elongation is achieved as a result, together with an elevated strength at the cryogenic temperature. The third method takes advantage of the elevated strain rate sensitivity of the flow stress of the nanostructured Cu, especially at slow strain rates. Using the stabilizing effects of strain rate hardening on tensile deformation, nearly uniform strains can be acquired in absence of strain hardening. We also discuss the deformation mechanisms involved in these approaches to assess their applicability to nanocrystalline metals with grain sizes well below 100 nm, where normal dislocation activities become severely suppressed.     

异构纳米/超细晶钢的研究进展

纳米/超细晶钢在具备高强度的同时,往往存在屈强比高、加工硬化率低和拉伸伸长率低的问题。近年来广泛的实验研究证明,异构组织往往能通过不同结构区域的协同耦合来优化材料的力学性能,是改善纳米/超细晶钢强/塑性“倒置”问题的有效途经。综述了近年来国内外关于钢中纳米/超细晶组织调控与其性能特点的研究进展,包括钢中主要异构组织的种类、性能特点和制备加工技术;同时,对异构纳米/超细晶钢面临的一些基础科学问题和发展前景进行了讨论和展望。     

超低碳BH钢变形抗力和连续冷却转变热模拟

采用Gleeble-1500热模拟试验机,对两种超低碳烘烤硬化(BH)钢的变形抗力和动态连续冷却转变进行研究,观察了两种试验钢在不同变形和冷却工艺条件下的热变形和连续冷却转变组织。结果表明,在1100℃、应变速率1s-1时,两种试验钢均发生了动态再结晶,Ti+Nb超低碳BH钢的变形抗力比Ti+V超低碳BH钢高出约20MPa;在900℃、应变速率1s-1时,Ti+Nb超低碳BH钢发生了动态回复,Ti+V超低碳BH钢则未发生动态回复。两种试验钢在相同热变形条件下的组织形貌及晶粒尺寸差别较大。在不同连续冷却速度下,两种试验钢的金相组织均为多边形铁素体,铁素体晶粒均随着冷速的增加而细化。Ti+Nb超低碳BH钢铁素体晶粒较为细小,形状不规则,Ti+V超低碳BH钢铁素体晶粒则较为粗大,形状规则。     

Effect of repetitive equal channel angular pressing on microstructural stability of low carbon steel

The microstructure of ultrafine grained low carbon steel processed with repetitive equal channel angular pressing was investigated. A submicron ferrite grain size of ∼0.2 μm was achieved by pressings of up to 12 passes. Microstructural examination by TEM with SAD pattern on the pressed samples revealed the presence of high density dislocations inside the ferrite grains and ill-defined grain boundaries. These features became more significant as the number of pressings increased. The static annealing of the pressed samples at 753 K up to 24 hrs resulted in a recovery which was associated with the absorption of the dislocations by the grain boundaries. However, the recovery was inhibited as the number of pressings increased. The annealing process also led to the precipitation of cementite particles in ferrite colonies. The presence of precipitated particles inside the ferrite grains enhanced the microstructural stability of the low carbon steel at elevated temperatures.     

Effect of grain size on the mechanisms of plastic deformation in wrought Mg–Zn–Zr alloy revealed by acoustic emission measurements

The present study has clarified the roles of dislocation slip and twinning as the deformation mechanisms in magnesium alloys, as well as the effect of grain size on their relative contributions. The details of these mechanisms were studied by monitoring acoustic emission (AE) in conjunction with a novel signal categorization technique in Mg alloy ZK60. Through the analysis of AE time series the sequences of predominant deformation mechanisms in coarse grained (～70 μm) and fine grained (～2 μm) specimens of the alloy were identified with a high degree of confidence. It was found that dislocation slip and twinning occur during tensile loading simultaneously for both microstructural states of the material, while a change from one predominant mechanism to the other occurs in the course of loading. Specifically, in the fine grained material plastic deformation is initially carried by dislocation slip, but deformation twinning takes over as the lead mechanism early on. In the coarse grained variant this sequence is reversed. The implications of the changing roles of the mechanisms of plastic deformation for the overall mechanical performance of ZK60 in the two contrasting microstructural states are discussed.     

切削法制备超细晶材料研究进展与展望

综述了切削法制备超细晶材料时加工参数和工艺条件对晶粒细化的影响,分析了切削法制备超细晶材料的力学性能、耐腐蚀性能和热稳定性等,探讨了超声振动复合切削法制备超细晶材料的可能性。在超声振动加工中,材料受低应力高速、高频撞击的影响,会发生严重的塑性变形,表面大尺寸的晶粒得到细化,同时超声振动还可以在材料表面形成表面微结构,进一步改善材料性能。因而提出将切削法和超声振动相复合,高效制备具有功能微结构的超细晶材料,为微型零件超细晶材料制备提供新的工艺选择以及理论和技术支撑。     

Microstructural evolution and plastic flow behavior of As-equal channel angular pressed 5083 Al alloy in low temperature superplasticity regime

In this study, the plastic flow behavior of ultrafine grained 5083 Al alloy fabricated by severe plastic deformation was examined in conjunction with microstructural evolution during deformation in the low temperature superplasticity regime. The present investigation was aimed at providing a better understanding of the nature of the low temperature superplasticity of ultrafine grained metallic materials. For this purpose, an ultrafine grained structure was introduced into the commercial 5083 Al alloy by equal channel angular pressing. A series of tensile tests was performed on the as-equal channel angular pressed samples at the initial strain rates of 10^?5–10^?2 sec^?1 and temperatures of 498–548 K, belonging to the low temperature superplasticity regime. The relationship between the true stress and true strain rate showed a sigmoidal behavior in a double logarithmic plot. The superplastic elongation was obtained within the limited intermediate strain range of 10^?4–10^?3 sec^?1 at 523 and 548 K. The microstructural examination and analysis of plastic flow curves revealed that low temperature superplasticity of the present alloy was attributed to dynamic recrystallization. In addition, necking instability during low temperature superplastic deformation of the alloy was discussed by applying Harts necking instability criterion.     

Tensile behavior of TRIP-aided multi-phase steels studied by in situ neutron diffraction

TRIP-aided multi-phase steels were made by thermo-mechanically controlled process, where the ferrite grain size and the amount of the retained austenite were changed by controlling process conditions. The tensile behavior of four steels was studied by in situ neutron diffraction. It is found that the retained austenite bearing about 1.0 wt% C is plastically harder than the ferrite matrix. The steel with a ferrite grain size of ≈2.0 μm showed tensile strength of 1.1 GPa and a uniform elongation of 18.4%, in which stress-induced martensitic transformation occurs during plastic deformation but a considerable amount of austenite remains even after the onset of necking. It is concluded that the enhancement of uniform elongation is caused mainly by the work-hardening due to the hard austenite and martensite, where the contribution of the transformation strain is negligible.     

Q235碳素钢应变强化相变的基本特点及影响因素

在热模拟单向压缩实验中,通过形变参数的变化考察了Q235碳素钢应变强化相变的基本规律及铁素体晶粒细化效果,结果表明,铁素体的超细化在热力学上是由于应变强化相变最大限度地提高了相变过冷度,在动力学上是由于形核集中在局部的高应变区,同时在转变过程中形变不断产生新的形核地点并抑制铁素体生长的结果,实现铁素体的超细化需要一最小变量及一定的应变速率,以使转变完毕并加抑制铁素伯的生长及形变成长条状,应变明显削弱了奥氏体晶粒尺寸的差异带来的铁素体尺寸的差异,应变造成的铁素体动态再结晶进一步细化了晶粒,这种特征是动态转变所特有的,此外,还比较了应变强化相变与无应变及传统近轧控冷铁素体形成时的差异。     

DEFORMATION ENHANCED FERRITE TRANSFORMATION IN PLAIN LOW CARBON STEEL

1. IntroductionGrain refinement is an effective way of increasing strength and ductility of metallicmaterials simultaneously. In recent ten years the approach to the grain refinement in steelsexperienced a period from thermal mechanical controlling processing (TMCP) in the yearsof 60--70's to the strain induced transformation in 80's. Its basic concept is to the controlof recrystallization, transformation and grain growth in different periods of hot working byutilizing microalloying elemellt…     

Processing,microstructure and corrosion behaviour of multi-axially forged low carbon steels

Abstract

Increasing attention is being paid to processing bulk ultrafine grained (UFG) materials for structural applications. Along with mechanical properties, study of corrosion behaviour of these materials is important for them to find wider applications. In this work, low carbon steels that are extensively used for general purpose structural applications are studied. Low carbon steels were processed by using multi-axial forging, a technique of severe plastic deformation. Steel specimens were processed using six passes of warm multi-axial forging operations, to produce UFG structures. The present work further investigated the corrosion behaviour of these severely deformed UFG steels. Potentiodynamic tests, immersion tests, and salt spray tests were performed in chloride environments. In most environments employed in this study, UFG steels showed improved uniform corrosion behaviour compared to their coarse grained counterparts. The improvement in corrosion properties is explained based on microstructural evolution with respect to grain size, dislocation population and substructure development.     

扩径率对X70级大变形管线钢管变形能力的影响

利用光学显微镜(OM)、电子背散射衍射(EBSD)、透射电镜(TEM)和力学性能分析手段研究了扩径率对X70级多边形铁素体+贝氏体(PF+B)组织的UOE试制管变形能力的影响。结果表明,扩径率在0.4%～1.2%范围变动时,钢管组织中的晶粒取向、有效晶粒尺寸和大、小角度晶界比例基本保持不变;随着扩径率增加,PF组织中位错密度增加,使得屈服强度和抗拉强度略有提高;钢板UOE制管后,变形能力指数由原始钢板的2.00分别下降到不同扩径率的0.78、0.61和0.56,变形能力显著下降;然而,0.4%～1.2%的扩径膨胀对钢管的变形能力影响较小;随扩径率增加,颈缩前钢管试样的应变硬化率先减小后增大,颈缩时的应变值分别为9.7%、8.6%和8.5%,扩径率为1.2%时,应变硬化率下降较快。     

超细晶钢微观组织与力学性能的各向异性研究

通过温轧技术,成功制备了平均晶粒尺寸约1μm的超细晶钢。利用扫描电镜、电子背散射衍射和室温拉伸等检测手段,研究了超细晶钢板的微观组织与力学性能的各向异性。结果表明：制备的超细晶钢板不同方向的微观组织和力学性能具有明显的各向异性;纵截面表层和心部的晶粒大多呈现拉长的形态,同时表层的晶粒拟合椭圆长/短轴比相较于心部更小,形状更加接近于圆形,横截面的晶粒拉长状特征相较于纵截面减弱,更接近等轴态,晶粒在三维空间呈细长的扁梭形态;各向强度由高到低依次为轧向、横向、与轧向成45°方向;长梭形晶粒组成的微观组织形态和织构是导致超细晶钢板力学性能各向异性明显的主要原因。