Controlled Phase Transformation Simulations to Design Microstructure for Tailored Mechanical Properties in Steel

Advanced materials with light weight but having high strength and ductility are required to decrease the weight of automobiles. Hereby, advanced high-strength steels like dual-phase steels and multiphase steels are vital as they possess good strength in conjunction with good formability. Several methods have been used for the processing of multiphase steels but very limited research has been reported on their processing through controlled cooling and by using a lean composition. The present research reports on methods of production of dual-phase/ multiphase microstructures in a steel of lean chemical composition (0.11C, 1.8Mn, and 0.325Si), making the steel multifunctional. Annealing parameters were determined using Thermo-Calc and JMat-Pro software. Software predictions were validated through experiments in a muffle furnace, followed by actual annealing experiments in an annealing simulator. Multiphase microstructures were obtained from the initial ferrite-pearlite structure by inter-critical annealing involving controlled cooling in the annealing simulator. Dual-phase structures were produced by inter-critical annealing, followed by rapid cooling to room temperature, whereas multiphase microstructures were produced by holding in the bainitic and martensitic ranges, respectively. The steel exhibited good combinations of strength–ductility, with tensile strength and ductility in the range of 550–705 MPa and 11–33%, respectively.     

新一代舰船用钢制备技术的现状与发展展望

综述了美国舰船用钢的发展历程,总结了其成分体系、工艺技术及典型应用,分析了新一代舰船用钢的发展趋势。介绍了我国舰船用钢的主要发展历程,指出了我国舰船用钢与国际先进水平的主要差距。对于新一代极低碳复合析出强化型高强韧钢进行了探索性研究。结果发现,采用极低碳成分并结合控制轧制工艺技术,可以获得强度和韧性的良好匹配。对实验钢的显微组织和析出相进行了检测分析,对强韧化机制进行了初步的阐述。最后,概述了我国高强韧钢生产的关键技术及装备基础。我国自主开发的新一代TMCP工艺技术和装备已达到国际先进水平,表明我国新一代舰船用钢由“跟踪”向“自主研发”转变已经具备了坚实的装备和工艺基础。     

新一代节约型高性能结构钢的研究现状与进展

我国钢铁产业目前正面临资源匮乏,环境和自然生态不堪重负等严重问题,开发合金元素用量更低、力学性能更高、使用寿命更长的节约型高性能结构钢是解决我国钢铁工业可持续发展问题的主要途径。综述了以超快速冷却为核心的新一代TMCP工艺和以薄带铸轧为代表的“近终成形”技术的相关冶金学原理,重点介绍了它们在开发新一代节约型高性能结构钢产品中的应用和进展,指出了这些新技术在我国的应用前景。     

Critical Comparison of Novel and Conventional Processing for Dual-Phase Steels

The final properties of an industrial product depend on the processing route of the material. Hence there is an impetus to study different processing routes to obtain the most desirable final properties. In the present study, low carbon steels have been subjected to the novel deformation induced ferrite transformation (DIFT) technique to produce dual-phase microstructures that are composed of ultra-fine ferrite with martensite and/or bainite as a second transformation product. In this thermomechanical processing technique, the steels have been rapidly cooled from the austenitization temperature to the deformation temperature (which is at least 25°C above the Ar₃ temperature) to produce highly undercooled austenite, followed by heavy deformation, and subsequently rapidly cooled thereby facilitating transformation to fine grained ferrite. Comparing the final microstructures obtained by this route with those attained by conventional thermo-mechanical processing, it can be concluded that significant ferrite grain refinement is attainable by the novel DIFT technique thereby emphasizing its potential to achieve improved mechanical properties.     

Influence of the chemical composition on transformation behaviour of low carbon microalloyed steels

In order to design thermomechanical schedules for processing low carbon microalloyed steels, the various critical transformation temperatures, i.e. the start and finish of the austenite transformation (A_r3, A_r1) and the non-recrystallization temperature (T_nr), must be determined. Continuous cooling torsion and compression testing are useful ways to measure these values. In this study six low carbon microalloyed steels with different additions (Nb, Cu, Si and Mo) were examined using these techniques. Moreover, the equilibrium phase diagrams for each alloy were calculated using FactSage. The comparison of the thermomechanical testing results with the thermodynamic calculations leads to a better understanding of the effect of the different elements on the transformation behaviour of pipeline steels. Regarding transformation temperatures, Cu in residual contents showed a strong effect on decreasing both A_r3 and A_r1, which indicates a hardenability effect of this element. On the other hand, increasing Nb contents increased T_nr by accelerating Nb(C,N) precipitation. However, when Si was added to a Nb-microalloyed steel, the T_nr decreased.     

Precipitation and hot deformation behavior of austenitic heat-resistant steels: A review

The austenitic heat resistant-steels have been considered as important candidate materials for advanced supercritical boilers, nuclear reactors, super heaters and chemical reactors, due to their favorable combination of high strength, corrosion resistance, perfect mechanical properties, workability and low cost.Since the precipitation behavior of the steels during long-term service at elevated temperature would lead to the deterioration of mechanical properties, it is essential to clarify the evolution of secondary phases in the microstructure of the steels. Here, a summary of recent progress in the precipitation behavior and the coarsening mechanism of various precipitates during aging in austenitic steels is made. Various secondary phases are formed under service conditions, like MX carbonitrides, M_(23)C_6 carbides, Z phase, sigma phase and Laves phase. It is found that the coarsening rate of M_(23)C_6 carbides is much higher than that of MX carbonitrides. In order to understand the thermal deformation mechanism, a constitutive equation can be established, and thus obtained processing maps are beneficial to optimizing thermal processing parameters, leading to improved thermal processing properties of steels.     

Current state of Fe-Mn-Al-C low density steels

Fe-Mn-Al-C steels, previously developed in the 1950s for replacing Fe-Cr-Ni steels, are currently generating a lot of interest with potential applications for structural parts in the automotive industry because they are lighter. This paper provides a review on the physical metallurgy, processing strategies, strengthening mechanisms and mechanical properties of Fe-Mn-Al-C steels from the published literature over a period of many years, and suggests avenues for future applications of these alloys in the automotive sector.The addition of Al to Fe-C steels leads to a reduction in both density and Young’s modulus. A 1.3% reduction in density and a 2% reduction in Young’s modulus are obtained per 1 wt% addition of Al. Due to the addition of the high amounts of Al, together with Mn and C, the physical metallurgy, general processing, microstructural evolutions and deformation mechanisms of these steels are largely different from those of the conventional steels.The addition of Al to high-Mn austenitic steels brings two other important effects: increasing the stacking fault energy (SFE) and producing short-range ordering (SRO) and/or κ′-carbide precipitation. Plastic deformation of low-density Fe-Mn-Al-C steels with a high SFE, which involves SRO, is dominated by planar glide. New deformation mechanisms such as the microband induced plasticity (MBIP), the dynamic slip band refinement (DSBR) and the shear band induced plasticity (SIP) are introduced to describe plastic deformation of Fe-Mn-Al-C austenitic steels in addition to the transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) and the twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP), which are often observed in Mn TWIP steels. These new deformation mechanisms are related to the formation and uniform arrangement of the SRO or nano-sized κ′-carbides which are coherent with the austenitic matrix. The κ′-carbide precipitation is a unique strengthening mechanism in the austenitic Fe-Mn-Al-C steels bearing high amounts of Al and C.The lightweight Fe-Mn–Al-C alloys can produce a variety of microstructures and achieve a wide range of properties. These alloys can be classified into four categories: ferritic steels, ferrite based duplex steels, austenite based duplex steels and austenitic steels. The austenitic steels are the most promising in terms of properties and processing. The tensile properties of the austenitic lightweight steels are similar to those of high Mn TWIP steels. The impact toughness of these steels in the solution treated condition is slightly lower than that of Cr-Ni stainless steels but is higher than that of the conventional high strength steels. The energy absorption at high strain rate is similar to that of high Mn TWIP steels and higher than that of conventional deep drawing steels. The ferrite based duplex low-density steels is another promising alternative. A bimodal microstructure can be obtained here through process control for steels with lower alloying contents, in which the plastic deformation of the ferrite and the TRIP and/or TWIP effects from the retained austenite can be profitably used. This type of Fe-Mn-Al-C steels exhibits an improved combination of strength and ductility compared with the first generation advanced high strength steels. The ferritic Fe-Al steels have tensile properties comparable with HSLA steels of 400–500 MPa strength level. The corrosion behaviour of Fe-Mn-Al-C steels is not improved in comparison with the conventional high strength steels. The application properties such as the fatigue behaviour and formability of Fe-Mn-Al-C steels cannot be properly understood at this stage, because of the limited experimental results so far. Some other application aspects such as weldability, coatability are not well documented.The applications of the Fe-Mn-Al-C steels in the automobiles is still not prevalent due to the lack of knowledge related to application properties so far. Above all, the reduced Young’s modulus of these steels and the processing problems as a result of the high Al and high Mn contents are the main issues. The future developments will therefore have to concentrate on the alloying and processing strategies and also on the methods to increase the Young's modulus. An improved processing strategy and a high value for the Young’s modulus will go a long way towards upscaling these steels to real automotive applications.     

双相钢中的残余奥氏体

研究了热－机械处理中各种因素对双相钢中的残余奥氏体的影响，发现：双相区热处理前的冷加工使奥氏体成核密度提高，且使残余奥氏体分布均匀和含量增加；微观结构的观察表明，空冷过程中奥氏体颗粒在不断缩小，颗粒的尺寸效应和碳原子向奥氏体中偏聚均使奥氏体变得稳定。因此，恰当地控制冷加工量、冷却速度、加热温度和时间，可使双相钢含有数量和稳定度都合适的残余奥氏体。此外还发现，从双相区温度空冷所得马氏体必须经低温短时     

High-modulus steels reinforced with ceramic particles through ingot casting process

High Young's modulus steels can be fabricated based on the concept of metal matrix composites. In this paper, a number of reinforcing ceramic phases with high Young's modulus are assessed and selected to design compositions for high-modulus steels based on thermodynamic calculations. The steel matrix composites reinforced with boride and carbide phases are produced through ingot casting and are processed thermomechanically to strips following standard processing routes for automotive products. The results show that the Young's modulus of steels in the as-cast condition can be increased using borides and carbides. However, further down-stream processing via conventional thermomechanical processing leads to a gradual degradation of the Young's modulus due to extensive void formation. The opportunities and challenges of ceramic-reinforced high-modulus steels produced via conventional ingot casting and thermomechanical processing for the automotive market are discussed.     

铁素体-珠光体型非调质钢强韧化技术研究进展

因省去了淬火、回火工艺,非调质钢具有节约能源资源的特点,使其受到广泛关注,在汽车工业等领域具有很大的应用潜力。从成分优化设计、控锻控冷技术及热处理技术等方面系统阐述了铁素体-珠光体(F-P)型非调质钢强韧化技术的国内外研究概况,重点探讨了控锻控冷技术对组织细化、碳氮化物及晶内铁素体(IGF)析出行为的影响,并对其强韧化技术研究的前景进行了展望。     

Effect of laser welding parameters on fusion zone morphological,mechanical and microstructural characteristics of AISI 304 stainless steel

Nowadays, the Nd:YAG laser has been a promising key tool for joining thin components. In this research, mechanical and microstructural properties of laser welded thin austenitic stainless steel sheets were investigated with experimental investigations, as a function of laser welding parameters. Butt welded joints were made using a Nd:YAG laser in the pulsed wave mode. The appropriate laser welding parameters were found in order to obtain quality and strong weld seam. The pulsed laser seam welding process is controlled by a variety of parameters. We focus on the effects of the several processing parameters on mechanical and microstructural characteristics of joint and weld quality. The aim of this research was to evaluate the influence of these processing parameters on joint strength and microstructure. And also we examined the weldability of stainless steels in butt joint configuration by a pulsed Nd:YAG laser beam.     

Modelling solid solution hardening in stainless steels

The solid solution hardening of stainless steels is studied by using the Labusch–Nabarro relation. Models are evaluated in order to predict the mechanical properties from chemical composition, solution hardening misfit parameters, grain size, ferrite content and product thickness. A data source of six grades of steels is used for the modelling. Both austenitic and duplex stainless steels are covered including more than 1100 batches, which are subjected to multiple regression analyses. The models are compared with earlier studies and can be used as tools in material optimisation.     

A general perspective of Fe–Mn–Al–C steels

During the last years, the scientific and industrial community has focused on the astonishing properties of Fe–Mn–Al–C steels. These high advanced steels allow high-density reductions about ~?18% lighter than conventional steels, high corrosion resistance, high strength (ultimate tensile strength ~?1 Gpa), and at the same time ductility above 60%. The increase in the tensile or yield strength and the ductility at the same time is almost a special feature of this kind of new steels, which makes them so interesting for many applications such as in the automotive, armor, and mining industry. The control of these properties depends on a complex relationship between the chemical composition of the steel, the test temperature, the external loads, and the processing parameters of the steel. This review has been conceived to elucidate these complex relations and gather the most important aspects of Fe–Mn–Al–C steels developed so far.     

Characterisation of bimodal grain structures in HSLA steels

High strength low alloy (HSLA) steels can show varying degrees of bimodality in their grain size distributions following rolling and also in the reheated condition, which can have significant effects on their toughness. Current methods of measuring bimodality work well for distinguishing between structures with significantly different levels and/or types of bimodality. However, these are not as good at consistently quantifying small differences between microstructures of, for example, steels processed under different conditions. This paper suggests a new method to construct the grain size distributions (in area-percent versus linear scale of equivalent circle diameter grain size) and to quantify bimodality in HSLA steels based on two parameters (peak height ratio, PHR, and peak grain size range, PGSR) measured from such distributions. The parameters were found to be simple, easy to measure, less subjective and more consistent for these steels compared to the standard and non-standard parameters used in the literature.     

Influence of various material design parameters on deformation behaviors of TRIP steels

In this paper, the microstructure-based finite element modeling method is used as a virtual design tool in investigating the respective influence of various material design parameters on the deformation behaviors of transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steels. For this purpose, the separate effects of several different material design parameters, such as the volume fraction and stability of austenite phase and the strengths of the constituent phases, on the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and ductility/formability of TRIP steels are quantitatively examined using different representative volume elements (RVEs) representing different TRIP steels. The computational results suggest that higher austenite stability is helpful in enhancing the ductility and formability of TRIP steels by delaying the martensitic transformation to a later stage, whereas increase of austenite volume fraction and/or ferrite strength alone is not beneficial to improve the performance of TRIP steels. The results also indicate that various material design parameters must be adjusted concurrently to develop high-performance TRIP steels. The information based on investigations in this paper can help guide the development of high-performance TRIP steels by providing the microstructure level deformation mechanisms.     

Welding of High Nitrogen Steels

In the present article, an attempt was made to review the weldability of high nitrogen steels. In the last few years, a lot of work has been put into a better understanding and processing of this class of steels. Through our metallurgical knowledge, it is obvious that the nitrogen content in the weld zone is the essential factor. It is a major task to identify all parameters influencing nitrogen content in the weld metal.     

高强度低屈强比铆螺钢轧制工艺的研究

为消除螺栓在热处理中产生的各种缺陷,缩短生产周期,使铆螺钢免热处理.采用热模拟试验机、实验室轧机和多工位冷镦机对铆螺钢轧制实验,铆螺钢原料和成品分别在拉力试验机和万能试验机上进行拉力试验,并对其组织进行了分析.结果表明,铆螺钢经过控轧控冷,获得具有多边形铁素体、细片状珠光体、粒状贝氏体、残余奥氏体和少量MA岛的多相组织.由于控轧控冷后的多相组织及TRIP效应,改善了螺栓的强韧性.铆螺钢因低的屈强比可以直接由热轧棒材冷镦成螺栓,螺栓无需最终热处理,产品的力学性能满足8.8级螺栓国家标准的相应要求.     

The development of ultra-low-carbon bainitic steels

This paper presents an introduction to ultra-low-carbon bainitic steels and illustrates their typical microstructural details. The aim of improving bainite's hardenability and increasing its toughness is emphasized. The paper also deals with the effects of alloying additions and processing parameters on microstructures and mechanical properties for this type of steel.     

Mechanical and corrosion behavior of plain low carbon dual-phase steels

Dual-phase steels are being used in automobile industries for last three decades. The mechanical properties of dual-phase steels can be altered by varying its martensite volume fraction. However, the benefits obtained in mechanical properties have to be viewed in light of other properties such as corrosion resistance. In this work, dual-phase steels with different volume fractions of martensite are obtained after thermal processing using different intercritical soaking times. The mechanical properties of dual-phase steels such as Vickers hardness and tensile properties are measured. Corrosion properties are evaluated using potentiodynamic polarization test and immersion test. It was observed that the tensile strength and hardness increased and ductility decreased with increase in martensite volume fraction. The corrosion rate for dual-phase steels is found to be lower than that for subcritically heat treated ferrite–pearlite steel. The higher corrosion resistance of dual-phase steels is explained on the basis of microstructural features.     

Fatigue failure predictions for steels in the very high cycle region – A review and recommendations

Very high cycle fatigue properties of various steels were studied using findings of previous research and laboratory fatigue testing. First, experimental data for more than 550 specimens covering 25 high and medium strength steels were used to investigate the relationships between the applied stress, number of failure cycles, size of defects or inclusions at fracture origins and stress intensity factors. Using the results of the investigation of these data, general conclusions were arrived at for steels as a whole. It was observed that the size of the failure origin can be predicted using strength properties of steels. Existing methods for estimating major parameters such as size of failure origins and stress intensity factors were reviewed, new methods were proposed and their accuracy was verified using experimental data. Also, the possibility of simplifying existing formulae with substitutions for the major parameters was reviewed. Employing these major parameters, new formulae for predicting fatigue strengths of both medium and high strength steels were proposed. Predictions of these proposed formulae were compared with existing well known formulae using experimental data and statistical methods highlighting the simplicity and importance of the proposed formulae. The ability of employing the proposed formulae for predicting, “fatigue strengths that are more close to the real values” as well as “fatigue strengths that are more safe and conservative” was reviewed. Secondly, fatigue properties and failure causes of medium strength – low carbon structural steels that are usually used in civil engineering structures were investigated. For this investigation, 35 smooth specimens of five steels were tested using a rotating bending fatigue tester. It was observed that fatigue failures occur up to around 10⁷ cycles and that the failure originates from the surface. It was found that the formulae proposed are able to predict failures of these medium strengths steels. Slopes of stress life curves in the very high cycle fatigue regions were well predicted by these proposed formulae while the predictions were fairly aligned with values suggested in previous research. Finally, recommendations were given for employing suitable prediction methods considering safety and importance of components and structures.