Tensile and work hardening properties of low carbon dual phase strip steels at high strain rates

Abstract

As a result of their unique combination of strength and ductility dual phase steels play an important role in reducing weight in automobile components and improving crashworthiness. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the crash performance of dual phase steels, as defined by the influence of low and high strain deformation rates (0·001 s^-1 and 100 s^-1 respectively), on the tensile and work hardening properties of a range of commercial dual phase products. The objective is to establish whether dual phase steels maintain their desirable mechanical property characteristics of low yield strength, high tensile strength and high work hardening rates during plastic deformation under the application of a high strain rate loading. The results confirmed that the yield/proof strength and tensile strength increased with increasing volume fraction of second phase constituents and increasing strain rate. In particular, a dual phase steel with a microstructure consisting of a significant volume fraction (>10–15%) of additional second phase material (bainite) is shown to display superior energy absorption properties. However, this is accompanied by poor ductility and work hardening characteristics.     

Enhanced strengthening and hardening via self-stabilized dislocation network in additively manufactured metals

The advent of additive manufacturing (AM) offers the possibility of creating high-performance metallic materials with unique microstructure. Ultrafine dislocation cell structure in AM metals is believed to play a critical role in strengthening and hardening. However, its behavior is typically considered to be associated with alloying elements. Here we report that dislocations in AM metallic materials are self-stabilized even without the alloying effect. The heating–cooling cycles that are inherent to laser power-bed-fusion processes can stabilize dislocation network in situ by forming Lomer locks and a complex dislocation network. This unique dislocation assembly blocks and accumulates dislocations for strengthening and steady strain hardening, thereby rendering better material strength but several folds improvements in uniform tensile elongation compared to those made by traditional methods. The principles of dislocation manipulation and self-assembly are applicable to metals/alloys obtained by conventional routes in turn, through a simple post-cyclic deformation processing that mimics the micromechanics of AM. This work demonstrates the capability of AM to locally tune dislocation structures and achieve high-performance metallic materials.     

Achieving high detection sensitivity (14 zmol) of biomolecular ions in bioaerosol mass spectrometry

Bioaerosol mass spectrometry (BAMS) performs single-cell analysis in real time. However, the specificity of BAMS mass signatures has been limited by low sensitivity at high masses. To increase the mass range and sensitivity of BAMS, a novel design was developed that utilizes a linear flight tube with delayed extraction and an electrostatic ion guide. This study quantifies the sensitivity limits of the novel BAMS design and evaluates the feasibility of BAMS to detect higher mass biomarkers from single cells. All experiments were carried out using MALDI aerosol particles that were nebulized from solution. Sensitivity was assessed by generating particles with decreasing amounts of analyte via serial dilutions. The amount of analyte contained within each particle was calculated based on particle size, density, and molarity of the analyte within solution. A variety of biomolecular ions were studied and signals obtained from particles containing 300 zmol of maltopentaose, 132 zmol of alpha-cyclodextrin, and 14 zmol (approximately 8400 molecules) of gramicidin S are reported. The detection of 14 zmol of gramicidin S is to the best of our knowledge a record in sensitivity for MALDI TOF-MS.     

Strain hardening and softening in a nanocrystalline Ni-Fe alloy induced by severe plastic deformation

The strain response of an electrochemically deposited nanocrystalline Ni-20 wt.% Fe alloy processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) was investigated by monitoring changes in hardness. Strain hardening was observed in the very early stage of HPT, followed by strain softening before the onset of a second strain hardening stage. Structural investigations revealed that the two hardening stages were associated with an increase in dislocation density, whereas the strain softening stage was accompanied by a reduction in the dislocation and twin densities, thereby demonstrating the main dependence of hardness on the dislocation density in this material. Grain growth occurred during HPT and its role in the hardness evolution is also discussed.     

Plasma and wet oxidation of (63Cu37Zn) brass

A twin study of the oxidation mechanism of (63Cu37Zn) brass foil in oxygen plasma and in alkaline aqueous solution is reported. Brass foil was exposed to low-pressure rf oxygen plasma in given working conditions and the resulting surface was studied by means of linear sweep voltammetry. The plasma oxidation mechanism involves oxygen radicals, and results from their strong oxidising character. The precursor oxide Cu_xO, Cu₂O and CuO were identified in the passive layer, in addition to ZnO. Most of these oxides also form as corrosion products when brass samples are oxidised in alkaline solution. The corrosive process involves oxygen depolarisation, which develops on a 63Cu37Zn brass rotating disc electrode. Complementary investigation performed for neutral 0.5 M NaCl solution results in voltammograms which evidence a four-electron reduction mechanism.     

Dual strengthening mechanisms induced by carbon nanotubes in roll bonded aluminum composites

The dual role of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in strengthening roll bonded aluminum composites has been elucidated in this study. An increase in the elastic modulus by 59% has been observed at 2 vol.% CNT addition in aluminum, whereas tensile strength increases by 250% with 9.5 vol.% CNT addition. CNTs play a dual role in the strengthening mechanism in Al–CNT composite foil, which can be correlated to the degree of dispersion of CNTs in the matrix. Better CNT dispersion leads to improvement of elastic properties. In contrast, CNT clusters in the aluminum matrix impede dislocation motion, causing strain hardening and thus improvement in the tensile strength. Dislocation density of the composites has been computed as a function of CNT content to show the effect on strain hardening of the metal matrix–CNT composite.     

Properties of strain hardening ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHP-FRC) under direct tensile loading

Enhanced matrix packing density and tailored fiber-to-matrix interface bond properties have led to the recent development of ultra-high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHP-FRC) with improved material tensile performance in terms of strength, ductility and energy absorption capacity. The objective of this research is to experimentally investigate and analyze the uniaxial tensile behavior of the new material. The paper reviews and categorizes a variety of tensile test setups used by other researchers and presents a revised tensile set up tailored to obtain reliable results with minimal preparation effort. The experimental investigation considers three types of steel fibers, each in three different volume fractions. Elastic, strain hardening and softening tensile parameters, such as first cracking stress and strain, elastic and strain hardening modulus, composite strength and energy dissipation capacity, of the UHP-FRCs are characterized, analyzed and linked to the crack pattern observed by microscopic analysis. Models are proposed for representing the tensile stress–strain response of the material.     

Influence of prior cyclic hardening on high temperature deformation and crack growth in type 316L (N) stainless steel

For power generating equipment subjected to cyclic loading at high temperature, crack growth could arise from the combinations of fatigue and creep processes. There is potential for the material to undergo hardening (or more generally changes of material state) as a consequence of cyclic loading. Results of an experimental study to examine the influence of prior cyclic hardening on subsequent creep deformation are presented for type 316L(N) stainless steel at 600°C. Experiments were also carried out to explore creep crack growth at constant load, and crack growth for intermittent cyclic loading. For the as-received material there is substantial primary creep (hardening) at constant load, while for the cyclically hardened material at constant load the creep curves show recovery, and increasing creep rate with increasing time. Specimens subjected to prior cyclic hardening were also used for a series of creep and creep-fatigue crack growth tests. These tests demonstrated that there was accelerated crack growth compared to crack growth in as-received material.     

Diffusion in Si(x)Ge(1-x)/Si nanowire heterostructures

Si0.48Ge0.52/Si tip/nanowire heterostructures were grown by pulsed laser vaporization (PLV) at a growth temperature of 1100 degrees C. Ge diffusion in [111]-growth Si nanowires was studied for different post-synthesis annealing temperatures from 200 degrees C to 800 degrees C. Ge composition profiles were quantified by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope. The compositional profiles were modeled by a limited-source diffusion model to extract temperature-dependent diffusion coefficients. The Ge diffusion coefficients followed an Arrhenius relationship with an activation energy of 0.622 +/- 0.050 eV. This rather low activation energy barrier is similar to the previously reported activation energy barrier of 0.67 eV for Ge surface diffusion on Si, suggesting that surface diffusion may dominate in nanowires at this length scale.     

Latent hardening in polycrystalline copper and comparison with high density polyethylene

When a parallelepiped specimen of polycrystalline copper is compressed in thex-direction (primary direction) while holding thez-dimension unchanged by a vice, the specimen is anisotropically hardened as follows: when thez-direction is subsequently compressed while holding thex-dimension unchanged the yield stress (0.2% offset) is higher than the final flow stress of the primary deformation. This is similar to latent hardening in single crystals. On the other hand, if the second compression is in they-direction instead of thez-direction, the yielding (0.2% offset) occurs at a stress less than the final flow stress of the primary deformation. Both effects are reported here together with the results of two successive compressions in two mutually perpendicular directions without any constraints in either compression. These results are compared with the earlier results of high density polyethylene.     

Precipitation hardening in Al-Zn-Mg-Al2O3(p) composite

The precipitation hardening of a Al-Zn-Mg-Al₂O₃(p) composite is explored. It is found that the peak hardness achieved is almost double that of precipitation hardening of Al-Zn-Mg alloy or dispersion strengthening of Al-Zn-Mg with 5% Al₂O₃(p). Toughness is marginally improved and tensile strength is one and half times that of precipitation hardened Al-Zn-Mg alloys. The ageing time for peak hardness is reduced due to acceleration of formation of precipitate.     

六亚甲基二异氰酸酯(HDI)交联壳聚糖与三甲基-烯氯化铵接枝共聚物/聚丙烯腈复合纳滤膜的研究

以壳聚糖与三甲基-烯氯化铵共聚物的水溶液为铸膜液,涂敷在聚丙烯腈超滤膜上,以六亚甲基二异氰酸酯为交联剂,制备了壳聚糖与三甲基一烯基氯化铵共聚物复合阳离子型纳滤膜.着重讨论了交联剂浓度、交联时间、干燥时间等因素的影响,采用单因素实验法确定了最佳的制膜条件:以0.75%(质量分数)的壳聚糖与三甲基-烯氯化铵共聚物水溶液为铸膜液,在50℃下干燥2h.在乙醇、HDI的质量比为50:0.32交联体系中,50℃水浴浸泡交联21h,50℃下热处30min.通过电镜扫描对膜结构进行观察.膜的截留分子量大约为900Da.并且,对该复合膜的性能进行了测试,分别探索了操作压力、料液浓度、料液类型等因素与膜性能的关系.在20℃,流速为30L/h,操作压力为1.2MPa时,对2000mg/L MgCl2、NaCl、MgSO4、CaCl2、Na2SO4、KCl、K2SO4的截留率分别为95.6%、66.4%、80.8%、95.4%、30.7%、53.7%、23.8%;通量分别为6.73、7.35、6.43、6.73、6.12、6.12、6.43L/(h·m-2).对不同类型无机盐的截留顺序为MgCl2≈CaCl2＞ MgSO4＞NaCl＞KCl＞Na2SO4＞K2SO4,呈现阳离子型复合纳滤膜的截留特征.流动电位曲线进一步说明了该复合膜的荷正电性,其电压渗系数β为6.8mV/MPa.     

Measurement by cathodoluminescence spectroscopy of epitaxial layer compositions in (Al,Ga)As double heterostructures

Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy has been perfected as an accurate technique for measuring the alloy composition of (Al,Ga)As epitaxial layers in complex optoelectronic devices to within ±0.2% AlAs. The cross section of a complex device structure can be imaged and then the cathodoluminescence spectra of individual submicron layers can be analyzed.     

Achieving a high sensitivity of measurements in optical systems for rewriting holograms by incoherent light

It is shown for the first time that holograms can be rewritten by a single beam of incoherent light without an accompanying growth of the frequency of the carrier fringes of the rewritten holograms. This removes the restriction on the number of rewrite cycles and thus permits the achievement of the maximum sensitivity of measurements. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 24, 72–75 (June 26, 1998)     

Preparation and properties of biomimetic porous nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold with chitosan nanofiber network by a dual thermally induced phase separation technique

A biomimetic nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold decorated by chitosan nanofiber network inside the macropores was fabricated using a dual thermally induced phase separation technique. The first phase separation was used to build a nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold with interconnected macropores, where chitosan nanofibers about 500 nm in diameter were incorporated via the second phase separation. The content of nanofibrous chitosan was determined to be 5.76 in weight percentage by elemental analysis. The composite scaffold showed the highest protein adsorption of 7225 ± 116 μg/cm³ and the most hydroxyapatite crystal deposition in the mineralization. Compared with non-nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold, nanofibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold exhibited a much faster degradation, but it could be restrained by the introduced chitosan nanofibers. The bone mesenchymal stem cell culture results indicated that the cells would rather attach and stretch along the chitosan nanofibers in the composite scaffold that showed the highest viability and the best cytocompatibility may be attributed to the biomimetic nanofibrous network and good cell affinity of chitosan nanofibers.     

Photoreflectance studies of (Al)Ga- and N-face AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

Photoreflectance studies were carried out on Al_xGa_1−xN/GaN heterostructures confining high-mobility polarization-induced two-dimensional electron gases. By analyzing the Franz-Keldysh oscillations for samples with (Al)Ga- and N-face polarity, we obtained values for the surface electric field up to F=380 kV cm⁻¹ at room temperature. Taking into account spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization, the density of charged surface states and the bare surface potential are estimated. The results unambiguously prove the presence of donor- and acceptor-like surface states for samples with (Al)Ga- and N-face polarity, respectively. A change of the electric field was observed upon the exposure of the surface to a polar liquid, demonstrating the applicability of these structures for chemical sensors.