Dynamic recrystallization behavior and microstructural evolution of Mg alloy AZ31 through high-speed rolling

High-speed rolling (HSR) is known to improve the workability of Mg alloys significantly, which makes it possible to impose a large reduction in a single pass without fracture. In the present study, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior and microstructural and textural variations of Mg alloy AZ31 during a HSR process were investigated by conducting rolling with different imposed reductions in the range of 20%–80% at a high rolling speed of 470 m/min and 400 °C. High-strain-rate deformation during HSR suppresses dislocation slips but promotes twinning, which results in the formation of numerous twins of several types, i.e., {10–12} extension twins, {10–11} and {10–13} contraction twins, and {10–11}–{10–12} double twins. After twinning, high strain energy is accumulated in twin bands because their crystallographic orientations are favorable for basal slips, leading to subsequent DRX at the twin bands. Accordingly, twinning activation and twinning-induced DRX behavior play crucial roles in accommodating plastic deformation during HSR and in varying microstructure and texture of the high-speed-rolled (HSRed) sheets. Area fraction of fine DRXed grains formed at the twin bands increases with increasing rolling reduction, which is attributed to the combined effects of increased strain, strain rate, and deformation temperature and a decreased critical strain for DRX. Size, internal strain, and texture intensity of the DRXed grains are smaller than those of unDRXed grains. Therefore, as rolling reduction increases, average grain size, stored internal energy, microstructural inhomogeneity, and basal texture intensity of the HSRed sheets gradually decrease owing to an increase in the area fraction of the DRXed grains.     

Control of microstructure and earing behaviour in aluminium alloy AA 3004 hot bands

Abstract

Control of earing behaviour at the hot band stage is a critical requirement for successful manufacture of aluminium alloy sheet for beverage cans. The present study has combined production scale experiments with laboratory examinations to investigate the effect of various material and process parameters on microstructure, texture, and earing of the resulting products. It is shown that optimisation of the product is strongly dependent on (i) iron content of the alloy, (ii) ingot homogenisation temperature, (iii) finish hot rolling temperature, and (iv) heating rate during hot band annealing. Earing level after annealing is shown to depend on the balance between cube (+ Goss) texture intensity and the volume of material having almost randomly spread orientations. Pronounced 0/90° earing tendency is usually associated with coarse and elongated grain structures. A model is shown which represents the microstructure–texture evolution as a competition between cube/Goss grains, which nucleate systematically within transition bands, and randomly oriented grains, which nucleate in the vicinity of coarse second phase particles.

MST/1032     

Multi-pass large strain rolling of as-cast AZ31 magnesium alloy

As-cast AZ31 magnesium alloy subjected to multi-pass large strain rolling was investigated. A successive rolling process up to three passes was carried out at 370°C with a pass reduction of 30%. Deformation microstructure characteristics prove that the dynamic recrystallisation (DRX) mode changed with the increase of rolling passes. In the first pass, DRX related to twinning played a dominant role. But in the third pass, DRX grains mainly appeared around the pre-existing grain boundaries. The ultimate strength and elongation of rolled sheets after three passes rolling are enhanced by 37 and 39%, respectively, compared to the as-cast alloy. Meanwhile, the tensile fracture mode was ductile fracture which was different from the ductile–brittle fracture of as-cast.     

Dynamic deformation behavior and microstructural evolution during high-speed rolling of Mg alloy having non-basal texture

The dynamic deformation behaviors and resultant microstructural variations during high-speed rolling(HSR) of a Mg alloy with a non-basal texture are investigated. To this end, AZ31 alloy samples in which the basal poles of most grains are predominantly aligned parallel to the transverse direction(TD) are subjected to hot rolling with different reductions at a rolling speed of 470 m/min. The initial grains with a TD texture are favorable for {10–12} twinning under compression along the normal direction(ND); as a result, {10–12} twins are extensively formed in the material during HSR, and this consequently results in a drastic evolution of texture from the TD texture to the ND texture and a reduction in the grain size. After the initial grains are completely twinned by the {10–12} twinning mechanism, {10–11} contraction twins and {10–11}-{10–12} double twins are formed in the {10–12} twinned grains by further deformation.Since the contraction twins and double twins have crystallographic orientations that are favorable for basal slip during HSR, dislocations easily accumulate in these twins and fine recrystallized grains nucleate in the twins to reduce the increased internal strain energy. Until a rolling reduction of 20%, {10–12}twinning is the main mechanism governing the microstructural change during HSR, and subsequently,the microstructural evolution is dominated by the formation of contraction twins and double twins and the dynamic recrystallization in these twins. With an increase in the rolling reduction, the average grain size and internal strain energy of the high-speed-rolled(HSRed) samples decrease and the basal texture evolves from the TD texture to the ND texture more effectively. As a result, the 80% HSRed sample, which is subjected to a large strain at a high strain rate in a single rolling pass, exhibits a fully recrystallized microstructure consisting of equiaxed fine grains and has an ND basal texture without a TD texture component.     

Influence of warm working and tempering on fissure formation

Abstract

The influence of warm working and tempering on the formation of fissures on the fractured faces of Charpy V-notch samples has been examined for a variety of ferrite–pearlite steels and iron alloys which had been rolled in the temperature range 600–400°C and tempered in the range 600–725°C. In accordance with fissures being initiated by the ease of intergranular failure along the ferrite grain boundaries, the number of deep fissures produced on warm working increased with the degree of grain boundary alignment in the rolling direction and the grain aspect ratio (maximum grain diameter/minimum grain diameter). Pearlite banding and the presence of grain boundary carbides were found not to influence the number of fissures formed, fissuring behaviour being the same for the Fe–Mn alloys and plain C–Mn steels. The presence of low levels of S and P also did not influence fissure formation. At a given average grain aspect ratio it was found that the introduction of a two phase rolling sequence (760–720°C) into the rolling schedule encouraged fissure formation. This is probably due to a small number of elongated grains not recrystallising during the two phase rolling sequence and being further elongated at the lower rolling temperatures, combined with a greater alignment of the ferrite boundaries in the rolling direction. By rolling the steels and Fe alloys with the same reduction at temperatures insufficient to allow recrystallisation (600–400°C), it has been possible to keep the aspect ratio constant and vary the dislocation density. At constant aspect ratio, increasing the dislocation density by warm working increased the number of deep fissures formed. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that the weakness at the grain boundaries which gives rise to these fissures may be caused by dislocation interaction with the boundary together with boundary alignment giving a well defined crack path. Subsequent tempering at 600°C which allowed some recovery to take place without grain boundary movement did not reduce the number of fissures. Fissuring was only removed when the tempering temperature was high enough to allow grain boundary movement.

MST/769     

Identification of the effective grain size responsible for the ductile to brittle transition temperature for steel with an ultrafine grain size ferrite/cementite microstructure with a bimodal ferrite grain size distribution

This research investigated the mechanism responsible for the ductile to brittle transition temperature for the newly developed steels with a bimodal, ultrafine grain size, ferrite/cementite microstructure (UGF/C), which are produced by caliber warm rolling followed by annealing. The microstructure of the steel was characterised. Charpy impact tests were carried out in the temperature range from 373 K to 4.2 K and the fracture surfaces were analysed. The effective grain size responsible for the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature corresponded to the grain size of the large grain size regions. The mechanism of this phenomenon was attributed to the characteristics of the grain boundaries, as high angle grain boundaries are more effective in impeding cleavage crack propagation. The grain size of the large grain size regions was important in determining the DBTT because these grain boundaries were high angle grain boundaries, whereas the small gain size regions were dominated by the low angle grain boundaries.     

THE FRACTURE MECHANISM OF 475°C EMBRITTLEMENT IN A DUPLEX STAINLESS STEEL

The mechanism of “475°C embrittlement” of a duplex stainless steel was investigated using finite element modelling of the stress distribution at brittle fracture initiation. Brittle fracture initiated at a critical shear stress, which increased with ferrite hardness. The fracture stress was affected by the duplex microstructure. Fracture was nucleated by deformation twins, which were identified using electron back-scatter diffraction. The ductile-to-brittle fracture transition was sensitive to age-hardening and could be described simply by the effect of age-hardening and test temperature on the yield stress.     

初始晶粒尺寸对高温交叉轧制镁合金板材组织和力学性能的影响

目的 揭示晶粒尺寸对多道次高温交叉轧制AZ31镁合金板材组织和力学性能的影响规律及机制.方法 通过对不同初始晶粒尺寸的镁合金板材进行高温交叉轧制变形及热处理,获得不同状态的镁合金板材,采用金相显微分析、X射线衍射(XRD)分析及室温拉伸实验等手段研究镁合金板材的晶粒组织(形态、尺寸、取向)及力学性能.结果 经过多道次交...     

Microstructural control by secondary processing of strip cast low carbon steel

Abstract

The secondary processing of low carbon steel strip produced by twin roll casting was investigated to examine its effect on microstructural development and mechanical properties. The as cast microstructure is predominantly acicular ferrite with regions of bainitepearlite and polygonal ferrite. Deformation at temperatures below Ar1 produces a heterogeneous microstructure with regions of moderately deformed acicular ferrite adjacent to highly deformed regions containing shear bands. Cold rolled and warm rolled steels show similar behaviour to conventional hot band in that dynamic recovery during warm rolling results in sluggish recrystallisation and produces a coarse final grain size. However, the initial as cast microstructure recrystallises at a slower rate than conventional hot band and produces a weaker recrystallisation texture. This can be attributed to the heterogeneous microstructure of the as cast strip such that, after rolling, nucleation occurs within shear bands and more ill defined sites, which results in nucleation of randomly oriented grains thereby producing a weak final texture. It was found that austenitising the as cast strip followed by rolling in the vicinity of Ar3 produces a uniform distribution of equiaxed, ultrafine ferrite UFF grains throughout the thickness of the strip. The production of UFF by twin roll casting and subsequent rolling represents a simple processing route for the production of fine grained low carbon sheet steel products.     

Influence of loading direction on the anisotropic fatigue properties of rolled magnesium alloy

The influence of loading direction on the fatigue behavior of rolled AZ31 alloy was investigated by conducting fully reversed stress-controlled fatigue tests along the rolling direction and normal to the rolling plane. Alternating twinning and detwinning behavior during initial cycling was found to cause asymmetric hysteresis loops, resulting in a compressive strain in the rolling direction and a tensile strain normal to the rolling plane. A transition in the dominant deformation mechanism from twinning–detwinning to slip occurs at around five cycles under both conditions due to cyclic hardening, thus making their loops symmetric. The lower twinning stress in tension along the normal direction leads to an increase in fatigue damage by plastic strain, resulting in a lower fatigue resistance than along the rolling direction.     

Effect of hydrostatic pressure on the yield and fracture of polyethylene in torsion

Yield and fracture of polyethylene have been studied in torsion tests under superposed hydrostatic pressures. Two ductile-to-brittle transitions have been observed. At high strain rates and pressures, a conventional ductile-to-brittle transition was found with increasing strain rate and pressure. A second ductile-to-brittle transition was observed at low strain rates with decreasing strain rate. The yield stress showed a region of low, relatively constant, rate dependence at low strain rates, high temperatures and low pressures and a second region of higher strain-rate dependence at high strain rates and pressures. In contrast, the fracture stress was found throughout to have a relatively constant strain-rate dependence of intermediate value between those obtained for the yield stress. These features confirmed that failure can be considered as competition between yield and fracture processes. The fracture stress became lower than the yield stress at both high and low strain rates where brittle fracture was observed, with fully ductile behaviour resulting in intermediate conditions where the fracture stress exceeded the yield stress. The pressure, strain rate and temperature dependence of the yield stress was well described by two Eyring processes acting in parallel, both processes being pressure dependent.     

EBSD analysis of {10–12} twinning activity in Mg–3Al–1Zn alloy during compression

The {10–12} twinning activity of Mg–3Al–1Zn magnesium alloy during uniaxial compression at room temperature has been investigated by electron backscatter diffraction. The results indicated that the twinning activity was closely related with two angles: one was the angle between the c-axis and the compression direction and the other was the angle between the a-axis and the titling direction in the basal plane for a given relation between the c-axis and the compression direction. These two parameters can be used to explain which twinning variant will operate under the given strain path. For the grains containing a single {10–12} twinning variant, the {10–12} twinning variant occurred in a wide range of Schmid factor values (0 < Schmid factor < 0.5) and the Schmid factor rank of 1 or 2 was the most commonly observed. By contrast, for the grains containing two {10–12} twinning variants, the {10–12} twinning activity exhibited a stronger orientation dependence and the combinations of Schmid factor ranks 1–3 and 1–2 were the most commonly observed.     

Fracture behaviour of collimated thermoplastic poly(ethylene terephthalate) reinforced with short E-glass fibre

The fracture behaviour of thermoplastic poly(ethylene terephthalate) reinforced with short E-glass fibre was investigated using fractography and a fracture mechanics approach. The observed microstructures, crack propagation and the stress-rupture lifetime data indicate a sudden breakdown induced by far-field effectS. The critical damage appears to be correlated with a ductile-to-brittle transition of matrix fracture. The calculation of fracture toughness for various fibre orientations indicates that the fibre pull-out energy is the dominant term in the case in which the fibre orientation is perpendicular to the notch tip.     

Promotion of texture weakening in magnesium by alloying and thermomechanical processing: (I) alloying

The recrystallization and texture evolution of four Mg–Zn–Ce sheets with a warm-rolled microstructure obtained through two stages that can be characterised as rough rolling and finish rolling were investigated at different stages of post-rolling annealing. On annealing, the same regions of the microstructure, located by hardness indentations, were examined and tracked by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Furthermore, intragranular misorientation axes (IGMA) analysis was used to investigate the associated deformation mechanisms in the as-deformed material. By combining these two methods, the development of the recrystallization microstructure was investigated and important aspects, such as preferential nucleation sites, correlation between activated deformation mechanism and initial orientation of the recrystallized grains, were studied. The results showed that the Mg–1Zn–1Ce alloy, which had the highest Ce/Zn ratio, showed the weakest as-rolled texture and the most homogenous distribution of shear banding/twinning. The IGMA analysis also showed that in Mg–1Zn–1Ce, other types of dislocations rather than basal 〈a〉 were activated; in particular, prismatic 〈a〉 type was activated during deformation. Therefore, the weakening of recrystallization texture during rolling resulting from the addition of RE elements was linked with a change in dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behaviour. Since the Mg–1Zn–1Ce alloy corresponds to the highest level of Ce in solid solution, the observed texture weakening was possibly due to decreasing grain boundary mobility as a result of solute partitioning of RE elements to dislocations and grain boundaries.     

Mechanical and structural properties of AISI 1015 carbon steel nitrided after warm rolling

Nitriding is usually applied to alloyed steels with the scope of increasing their surface hardness and wear resistance. Warm working has been found to produce a fine-grained microstructure, which makes possible further treatment of low carbon steels. In combination with a low temperature thermochemical treatment, such as nitriding, warm working can be used to produce machine parts with a though core and with a hard, wear resistant surface layer. This paper presents a study of mechanical and structural properties of AISI 1015 carbon steel nitrided after warm rolling. The rolling was performed in the following conditions: temperature 670–550°C, rolling speed 1.39 s^-1 and deformation ratio 36.4%. After rolling, the samples were reheated to 550°C for a duration varying from a few minutes to 10 hours. The microstructural changes were assessed by light microscopy and quantitative microscopy analysis. Warm rolled samples were ion nitrided at 510–520°C in dissociated ammonia. The microstructure was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and the mechanical properties were evaluated by tensile testing, surface hardness and friction coefficient measurements. Prior application of warm rolling makes possible (in the sense that is a viable solution) the ion nitriding of low carbon steels in order to produce machine parts with improved mechanical properties in the core (due to warm rolling) and longer service life (due to ion nitriding).     

Texture evolution and probability distribution of Goss orientation in magnetostrictive Fe–Ga alloy sheets

Texture evolution and the distribution of Goss orientation in polycrystalline Fe–Ga alloy were investigated as a series of rolling and subsequent annealing processes were used to develop highly textured rolled sheet. A dramatic change from the random nature of the as-rolled and primary recrystallized texture is observed when careful control of atmosphere and temperature during anneal leads to development of a sharp Goss orientation over up to 98 % of the surface of a sample during secondary recrystallization. In this work, grain boundary properties in local areas surrounding Goss grains are investigated and the evolution of Goss orientation is traced through the different stages of alloy processing using electron backscatter diffraction analysis. To evaluate the evolution of grains with Goss orientation, {011} grains are selected and separated from other texture components at each processing step and statistical analysis used to correlate the structural inheritance chain of Goss-oriented grains. The four processing stages considered are the alloy after hot rolling, the as-rolled alloy (i.e., after subsequent warm and cold rolling), the alloy after an initial anneal during which primary recrystallization occurs, and the alloy after final anneals in which secondary recrystallization with abnormal grain growth occurs. Analysis of Goss grain orientation probability distribution functions after primary and secondary recrystallization convincingly demonstrates that the orientation of the abnormally grown Goss texture that develops during secondary recrystallization is determined by the orientation of Goss components that develop during the primary recrystallization stage of alloy processing.     

Mechanical behaviour of nitrogen-alloyed austenitic stainless steel hardened by warm rolling

This investigation deals with the hardening effect, by warm rolling, of the alloy Uranus B66^®, a nitrogen-alloyed austenitic stainless steel produced by Creusot-Loire Industrie. The warm rolling process leads to substructural changes from the appearance of planar slips at low deformation, the micro-twins formation followed by sequences of their bending, breaking and disappearance at intermediate deformation, and finally to the formation of heavily deformed domains at the highest warm rolling reduction. The mechanical behaviour of the warm rolled Uranus B66, under quasi-static tensile and quasi-static and dynamic compression tests, has been analysed. Warm rolling increases the mechanical resistance to a saturation level and decreases the ductility when compared to that of the as-received material. The dynamic flow stress after warm rolling up to 85% increases to such a level that brittle fracture occurs after small plastic deformation. The origin of the strength saturation is related to the terminal microstructure derived from the warm rolling deformation.     

Deformation behaviour of ultrafine grained Mg–7Gd–5Y–1.2Nd–0.5Zr alloy under high strain rates

The mechanical behaviour of Mg–7Gd–5Y–1.2Nd–0.5Zr (wt. %) alloy with ultrafine grains was measured by split Hopkinson pressure bar method under the strain rates of 1000, 1500, and 2000 s^?1 at room temperature. Dynamic tests were carried out along extrusion direction (ED), transverse direction (TD), and normal direction (ND). The results demonstrated that the flow stress increased with the increase of strain rate, showing a positive strain rate strengthening effect. There was no obvious anisotropy in dynamic compression along ED, TD, and ND, which was caused by rare earth elements and multi-pass deformation. This led to the adoption of plastic deformation mode dominated by non-basal slip and participated by tension twinning.     

Relation of ductile-to-brittle transition temperature to phosphorus grain boundary segregation for a Ti-stabilized interstitial free steel

Equilibrium grain boundary segregation of phosphorus in a Ti-stabilized interstitial free (IF) steel is measured using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) after the specimens are aged for adequate time at different temperatures between 600 and 850 °C. Based on the experimental data of equilibrium grain boundary segregation along with the McLean equilibrium segregation theory, the free energy of segregation of phosphorus is evaluated to be ∼44.8 kJ/mol, being independent of temperature. With the AES results being combined with the ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures (DBTTs) determined by impact tests, a relationship between DBTT and phosphorus boundary concentration is established. Predictions with the relationship indicate that cold work embrittlement may be severe if the steel is annealed at relatively low temperatures after cold rolling.     

An investigation of the mechanical behaviour of fine tubes fabricated from a Ti–25Nb–3Mo–3Zr–2Sn alloy

This study investigates the mechanical properties and the deformation mechanisms active in Ti–25Nb–3Mo–3Zr–2Sn fine tubes. Ti–25Nb–3Mo–3Zr–2Sn alloy is a recently developed metastable β titanium alloy intended for biomedical applications. Tensile tests were carried out on the fine tubes. The modulus of the Ti–25Nb–3Mo–3Zr–2Sn fine tubes increased with reductions in the diameter for tubes in the cold rolled and annealed conditions. In comparison with cold rolled tubes, the annealed tubes exhibit increased strain hardening behaviour and superior ductility. Mechanical twins, stress-induced martensitic transformation and the textures of the β and α″ phases were investigated. The results show that the fine tubes exhibit different moduli which are related to the evolution of β and α″ phase textures during processing. Cold rolling facilitates the transformation from β to the α″ phase and mechanical {332}〈113〉 twinning. For the annealed tubes, mechanical twinning as well as primary and secondary martensitic transformations was activated at specific levels of tensile strain. Twins developed with increasing levels of strain, and secondary martensitic transformations occurred within the twinned β regions. Annealed fine tubes exhibit multistage strain hardening behaviour and superior ductility due to the synergetic effects of twinning induced plasticity and transformation induced plasticity during tensile deformation.