Warm multiaxial forging of AISI 1016 steel

In this work, the microstructural evolution in AISI 1016 steel processed by using warm multiaxial forging technique is studied. With increase in multiaxial forging strain, a finer substructure evolved. Structural evolution in pearlite phase is addressed in detail considering the strain paths and strain rate. Pearlitic cementite fragmented into ultrafine particles of about 100–300 nm size. Warm multiaxial forging process also dispersed the ultrafine cementite particles into the ferrite matrix. Based on the grain boundary characterization and textural evolution, mechanism of ferrite grain refinement is explained. Up to six strain steps, crystallographic slip is the dominant mode of deformation and grain subdivision and recovery is the mechanism for ferrite grain refinement. At nine strain steps, dominant deformation mechanism appears to be grain boundary sliding and random grain rotation. After nine strain steps, initial grains of average 17 μm size reduced to submicron sized grains with the fraction of high angle grain boundaries exceeding 0.7. Double-n behavior is observed during tensile testing of some multiaxially forged steels. Tensile strength and hardness values of multiaxially forged steel increased by more than 100% after eighteen warm multiaxial forging strain steps, whereas ductility reduced by only about 30%.