Papers by Author: Ana Carmen C. Reis

Abstract: The microstructural anisotropy together with the crystallographic texture of an industrial grade of X70 pipeline steel is studied by means of the 3D-EBSD technique known also as EBS3 which was recently developed by FEI. Samples of size 8x10x3mm³ were cut from the middle thickness of an industrial rolled plate and after special sample preparation have been studied in a Nova 600 dual beam scanning electron microscope equipped with a field emission gun and HKL Channel 6 EBSD data collection software for crystallographic orientation, which allows multiple sectioning of the sample in automatic mode and, afterwards reconstruction of both the 3D microstructure and texture of the examined volume. Three scanned zones of different volumes that varied between 15x10x27 4m³ and 16x14x6 4m³ have been examined and the results for the crystallographic orientation, grain shape and grain shape orientation are discussed together with the data for the anisotropy of the Charpy impact toughness of the material.

Abstract: An Fe-2%Si alloy, which was designed for electromagnetic applications was submitted to a series of plane strain compression (PSC) tests with reductions of 25, 35 and 75% at temperatures varying from 800 to 1,100°C and at a constant engineering strain rate corresponding to a constant cross velocity of 20 mm/s. The initial structure of the material displayed nearly equi-axed grains with an average size of 80 μm. The as-received texture was characterised by a nearly random cube fibre (<100>//ND) with a relatively weak maximum on the rotated cube component ({001}<110>). After deformation the samples were water quenched in order to avoid post-process static recrystallization events. The microstructures were analysed by orientation imaging microscopy (OIM) revealing that the zone of PSC was restricted to the central layers of the sample but minimally covering 50% of the sample thickness. After deformation at 800°C the conventional lamellar deformation structures were observed on the sections perpendicular to the transverse direction of PSC. At higher deformation temperatures the structure was of a bimodal nature consisting of lamellar deformation bands and equi-axed small grains. The volume fraction of these small equi-axed grains increased from 19.9% after 75%reduction at 800°C to 67.8% after 75% reduction at 1.100°C. After 75% reduction the equi-axed grains exhibited an average size of 10 μm which represents a strong grain refinement with respect to the initial size of 80 μm prior to PSC. Ferrite Silicon steels undergo extensive dynamic recovery during hot working. Dynamic recrystallization (DRX), though, has not yet been reported for these alloys although the present data suggest that a DRX mechanism might be responsible for the remarkable grain refinement after relatively low amounts of strain applied at high temperatures.

Abstract: Titanium alloyed interstitial free steel was processed by means of accumulative roll bonding (ARB) in order to obtain an ultrafine grained structure. Ten consecutive rolling passes were applied at 480°C with a nominal reduction of 50% per pass and an intermediate annealing treatment of 5 min. at 500°C. A total true strain was obtained of evM = 8.0 which corresponds to an accumulated reduction of 99.9%. Orientation imaging microscopy was used to evaluate textures and microstructures. A pronounced lamellar structure was observed until the 5th pass with an incidence of high angle grain boundaries predominantly parallel to the rolling direction. After the 6th pass (evM = 4.8) an increased fragmentation perpendicular to the rolling direction starts to develop in spite of the lamellar microstructure with an average spacing of approximately 1 µm. From the 7th pass onwards (evM ≥ 5.6) a random high angle grain boundary distribution develops which results in a more equi-axed ultrafine microstructure after the 9th pass (evM = 7.2) with an average grain width of 200 nm. As the rolling is carried out without lubrication, the surface areas display a slightly more fragmented structure than the midlayer sections and typical shear texture components are present in these surface zones (<110>//ND and <211>//ND fibre). Although the sheets are stacked upon each other after each subsequent pass, the shear strain microstructural and textural features are rapidly decomposed in the midlayer in each subsequent rolling pass which is clearly revealed by the cross sectional orientation scan on the composite sample. Hence it cannot be concluded that the surface shear strain significantly contributes to the grain fragmentation in the bulk volume of the composite sample.

Abstract: An interstitial-free steel was severely plastically deformed in an accumulative roll bonding (ARB) experiment with 10 consecutive passes applied at 480°C. Nominal reductions of 50% per pass and an intermediate annealing treatment of 5 min. at 520°C were employed. A total true strain of evM = 8.00 was applied, which corresponds to an accumulated reduction of 99.9%. The evolution of texture and microstructure was monitored by means of orientation imaging microscopy. A lamellar microstructure, characteristic of severely rolled sheet materials, was observed even after the highest strains. The average lamellar width was determined as a function of rolling strain. Under the experimental limitations in terms of spatial resolution, no significant difference was observed between the average lamellar width in the mid-section and near the surface of the sheet. Texture analysis revealed a conventional cross-sectional gradient with plane strain rolling components in the mid-layers and shear components in the subsurface regions. Although these different strain modes did not affect the microstructure in terms of the average lamellar spacing, an effect was observed on the average aspect ratio of the grains. This was much higher in the sheared (surface) layers than in the plane strain compressed (centre) areas. The surface structure did not have an effect, though, on the bulk microstructural evolution in spite of the specific nature of the ARB process during which the surface layer of one pass reappears in the mid-section of the next pass.

Abstract: A Ti-stabilized interstitial free steel was highly cold deformed to a reduction of 95% and subsequently submitted to extremely short annealing cycles with heating rates varying between 300°C/s and 4500°C/s followed by water quench at various temperatures. The microstructural and textural development was studied through various consecutive stages: partially recrystallized, fully recrystallized and after α→γ→α transformation. It was found that irrespective of the heating rate the recrystallization has completely terminated before the onset of the ferrite to austenite phase transformation. In the fully recrystallized condition, ultra-rapid heating gave rise to substantially refined structures with an average ferrite grain size of 6µm. It was also observed that this grain refinement saturates with heating rates beyond 1000°C/s. With regard to the texture formation, the characteristic {111} deep drawing fibre of cold rolled IF steels was observed, irrespective of the heating rate, in an annealing treatment as short as 0.3s. After the forward and reverse α→γ transformation, the ensuing ferrite texture displayed a strong memory effect, as the {111} fibre was even more intense after the double transformation than before.