A Study of Microstructure and Performance of Quenching Fe‐V‐W‐Mo Alloy

The critical points and time temperature transformation (TTT) curves of Fe‐5%V‐5%W‐5%Mo‐5%Cr‐3%Nb‐2%Co (Fe‐V‐W‐Mo) were measured, and the effects of quenching temperature and cooling modes on the microstructure and performance of Fe‐V‐W‐Mo alloy were investigated. The results showed that the hardness of Fe‐V‐W‐Mo alloy increased until the quenching temperature reached 1025°C and dropped down as the quenching temperature exceeded 1050°C in oil cooling. The hardness obtained in air cooling and spray cooling exhibited a similar tendency as that in oil cooling, but the temperature at which the highest hardness was obtained in these slower cooling processes changed to a higher range. The hot hardness and toughness of Fe‐V‐W‐Mo alloy increased with rising quenching temperature until it reached 1150°C, and from then on the toughness began to drop. The main reasons why the structures and properties of Fe‐V‐W‐Mo alloy obviously change under different quenching conditions are particularly analysed at last.     

A Study of Microstructure and Performance of Tempered Fe‐V‐W‐Mo Alloy

Influences of tempering temperature, holding time and tempering times on the microstructure and performance of Fe‐5%V‐5%W‐5%Mo‐5%Cr‐3%Nb‐2%Co(Fe‐V‐W‐Mo) were investigated by means of metallography, optical microscopy, hardness measurements, impact tester and pin abrasion tester. The results show that the hardness of Fe‐V‐W‐Mo alloy remains constant when tempered below 350°C. The hardness decreases gradually as the tempering temperature increase until around 475°C and then it increases again to a peak at 525°C. The hardness of Fe‐V‐W‐Mo alloy reaches nearly the highest value after the first tempering and decreases after triple‐tempering. The toughness of Fe‐V‐W‐Mo alloy increases until the tempering temperature reaches 475°C and then decreases until the temperature reaches 525°C. However, it increases again when tempering is beyond that temperature. The excellent wear resistance can be obtained by tempering at 500‐550°C.     

Thermo‐elastic Homogenization of 3‐D Steel Microstructure Simulated by the Phase‐field Method

A multi‐scale approach based on the asymptotic homogenization method of periodic material structures is applied here to determine the effective thermo‐elastic properties of 3D steel microstructures, which have been calculated by phase‐field simulations. A multiphase‐field model, coupled to thermodynamic databases, is used to evaluate the microstructure evolution during the austenite to ferrite phase transformation of low carbon Fe‐C‐Mn steel. In order to derive effective mechanical properties, geometrical information about the grains, their phase properties and crystallographic orientations are transferred to the homogenization tool. Effective cubic Young and shear modules and Poisson coefficients are predicted for different ferrite volume fractions. Moreover, the volume change is derived as function of the phase fractions, leading to a calculated dilatometer curve. The effects of the thermal shrinkage and the volume expansion caused by the phase transformation are taken into account.     

Microstructure and Deformation Behaviour of Iron‐Rich Iron‐Aluminium Alloys with Ternary Carbon and Silicon Additions

The microstructure, hardness, yield stress, fracture strain, and brittle‐to‐ductile transition temperature of Fe‐Al alloys with Al contents of 12‐18 at.% Al, which are in the range of the so‐called K‐state with possible short‐range ordering reactions, and with ternary additions of carbon and silicon were studied with respect to the effects of possible impurities on the hardening of Fe‐Al alloys. It was found that perovskite‐type Fe₃AlC carbide particles precipitate even in alloys with low C and Si contents; they are controlled by prior heat treatments and strongly affect the deformation behaviour.     

Metallurgy,Microstructure and Properties of a New Nitride Strengthened Nickel‐Chromium Superalloy

The nitrogen content of Ni‐base superalloys for high temperature service is generally kept below about 0.05 wt.‐% to avoid detrimental precipitation of nitrides. These nitrides are said to have a harmful influence on mechanical properties and workability of these alloys. However, some recent studies and research conducted with nitrogen strengthening of Ni‐Cr‐alloys have resulted in an alloy with excellent physical and mechanical properties. The applied PESR (Pressurized Electro‐Slag Remelting)‐Technology provided up to 1.0 wt‐% nitrogen in a NiCr7030‐alloy.The homogeneously distributed nitrides prevent the alloy from excessive grain growth thus providing stable mechanical properties, i.e. impact toughness even after long term exposure. The new alloy easily exceeds R_m= 850 MPa at room temperature and 600 MPa at 600 °C as relevant design values. This paper introduces this new alloy with its very special metallurgy, microstructure, and its physical and mechanical properties.     

Influence of High‐Frequency Micro‐Forging on Microstructure and Properties of 304 Stainless Steel Fabricated by Laser Rapid Prototyping

We report the fabrication of the 304 stainless steel by the laser rapid prototyping harmonized with high‐frequency micro‐forging and demonstrate that both microstructure and properties of the prepared samples can be enhanced significantly. Structurally, we find that the large regular dendritic microstructure can be broken into pieces and that the internal defects are to some extent eliminated. Moreover, grains are refined remarkably. As a consequence of such structural modification, mechanical properties are found to be enhanced considerably by demonstrating a much broader fluctuation in tensile strength, a marked increase in tensile and yielding strength, and a drastic enhancement in surface hardness by 76% after the micro‐forging. Further calculations reveal that the defect region is shrunken substantially after micro‐forging. Detailed analysis of fractures in the tensile samples provides convincing evidence that plastic properties can be improved as well by the micro‐forging.     

Galvannealing of (High‐)Manganese‐Alloyed TRIP‐ and X‐IP®‐Steel

In this study the influence of Mn on galvannealed coatings of 1.7% Mn‐1.5% Al TRIP‐ and 23% Mn X‐IP®‐steels was investigated. It is shown that the external selective oxides like Mn, Al and Si of the TRIP steel which occur after annealing at 800 °C for 60 s at a dew point (DP) of ‐25 °C (5% H₂) hamper the Fe/Zn‐reaction during subsequent galvannealing. Preoxidation was beneficially utilized to increase the surface‐reactivity of the TRIP steel under the same dew point conditions. The influence of Mn on the steel alloy was investigated by using a 23% Mn containing X‐IP®‐steel which was bright annealed at 1100 °C for 60 s at DP ‐50 °C (5% H₂) to obtain a mainly oxide free surface prior to hot dip galvanizing (hdg) and subsequent galvannealing. As well known from the literature Mn alloyed to the liquid zinc melt stabilizes δ‐phase at lower temperatures by participating in the Fe‐Zn‐phase reactions, it was expected that the metallic Mn of the X‐IP®‐steel increases the Fe/Zn‐reactivity in the same manner. The approximation of the effective diffusion coefficient (D_eff(Fe)) during galvannealing was found to be higher than compared to a low alloyed steel reference. Contrary to the expectation no increased Fe/Zn‐reaction was found by microscopic investigations. Residual η‐ and ζ‐phase fractions prove a hampered Fe/Zn‐reaction. As explanation for the observed hampered Fe/Zn‐reaction the lower Fe‐content of the high‐Mn‐alloyed X‐IP®‐steel was suggested as the dominating factor for galvannealing.     

Stress‐Temperature‐Transformation and Deformation‐Temperature‐Transformation Diagrams for an Austenitic CrMnNi as‐cast Steel

Stress‐Temperature‐Transformation (STT) and Deformation‐Temperature‐Transformation (DTT) diagrams are well‐suited to characterize the TRIP (transformation‐induced plasticity) and TWIP (twinning‐induced plasticity) effect in steels. The triggering stresses for the deformation‐induced microstructure transformation processes, the characteristic temperatures, the yield stress and the strength of the steel are plotted in the STT diagram as functions of temperature. The elongation values of the austenite, the strain‐induced twins and martensite formations are shown in the DTT diagram. The microstructure evolution of a novel austenitic Cr‐Mn‐Ni (16%Cr, 6% Mn, 6% Ni) as‐cast steel during deformation was investigated at various temperatures using static tensile tests, optical microscopy and the magnetic scale for the detection of ferromagnetic phase fraction. At the temperatures above 250 °C the steel only deforms by glide deformation of the austenite. Strain‐induced twinning replaces the glide deformation at temperatures below 250 °C with increasing strain. Below 100 °C, the strain‐induced martensite formation becomes more pronounced. The kinetics of the α'‐martensite formation is described according to stress and deformation temperatures. The STT and DTT diagrams, enhanced with the kinetics of the martensite formation, are presented in this paper.     

Iso‐Work‐Rate Weighted‐Taylor Homogenization Scheme for Multiphase Steels Assisted by Transformation‐induced Plasticity Effect

A simple homogenization scheme for multiphase microstructure (composite) is developed. This scheme is based on the classical Taylor (iso‐strain‐rate) averaging scheme. Scalar multipliers are introduced as weighting parameters in order to relax the condition of uniform strain distribution used in the classical Taylor scheme. In the present work, the scalar weighting parameters are determined by satisfying the iso‐work‐rate condition, i.e., work is equally distributed in all constituent phases. In combination with micromechanical models developed for transformation‐induced plasticity (TRIP) effect, the iso‐work‐rate weighted‐Taylor scheme is applied for simulating the effective mechanical behaviour of multiphase TRIP‐assisted steel. The predictions of the iso‐work‐rate weighted‐Taylor scheme are compared with the result of the corresponding simulation with the direct finite‐element method (FEM).     

Spline‐Interpolation and Calculation of Machine Parameters for the Three‐Roll‐Pushbending of Spline‐Contours

Today, bending tasks become more and more complex. Not even constant bending radii are required in the industrial practice. There is a growing demand for bending spline‐contours, too. Such geometries are often produced with Freeform‐Bending procedures like Three‐Roll‐Pushbending. This paper presents a method to interpolate a given spline bending‐contour (by CAD data), in order to calculate its radii distribution, which is needed to determine the machine parameters in certain points for the Three‐Roll‐Pushbending. For the determination of the machine parameters one has to consider the different influences on the bending process. The material springback and the deflection of the bending machine per radius need to be compensated to reach a near net shape bending result. Nevertheless deviations cannot be avoided. To improve the results, a possibility to adjust the pre‐calculated machine parameters is shown. For the investigations tube profiles with constant wall thicknesses were considered. The corresponding plasticity calculations refer to tube cross‐sections. The results were validated by bending a representative spline contour on the bending machine of the Chair of Forming Technology at the University of Siegen.     

Microstructure Characterization of Cold‐Rolled Dual‐Phase Steels

The evolution of the microstructure of cold‐rolled dual‐phase steels during annealing is investigated. For this purpose, a cold‐rolled dual‐phase grade is annealed in the laboratory. Annealing cycles are applied to systematically investigate various cooling rates and isothermal holding temperatures and times relevant for continuous annealing lines exhibiting an overaging zone. In addition to the characterization of the microstructure by means of light optical metallography and transmission electron microscopy, mechanical properties are presented.     

Multistage High‐speed Compression Test to obtain Material Data for the Kinetics of Microstructure Change in Microscale analysis of Large‐strain Working Technologies

A new analytical model for predicting microstructure change is proposed, and the actual steel microstructure changes that evolve during multistage and single‐stage high‐speed compression are analysed by EBSP (Electron Back Scattering Pattern). Severe plastic deformation induces evolution of various microstructure changes. Prediction of the changes requires the micro‐scale analysis of large‐strain working technologies and accurate material data, which are usually collected by conducting experiments such as compression tests. The analytical model uses the residual dislocation density and austenite grain size as parameters, and can be used to analyse the ferrite nucleation and transformation inside the grains. The compression tests were performed using a newly developed machine that can realize multistage forming at high strain rates. The precision of the data from the tests can be expected to be higher than that from conventional tests. Through the investigation, it becomes clear that multistage high‐speed forming can produce ultrafine‐grain steel whose chemical composition is the same as plain carbon steel, when applying the kinetics of microstructure change shown in the analytical model.