Papers by Author: Naoki Takata

Abstract: We have investigated the susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement of interstitial-free (IF) steel with ultrafine-grained microstructure produced by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) process. The ARB process was conducted to as-received IF steel at 773 K, and repeated to five cycles. The as-received and the ARBed IF steels were cut into tensile specimens, and then hydrogen was electrochemically charged to the specimens in a sulfuric acid solution of pH 2.5 at a cathodic current density of 50 A m-2 for several charging times. Immediately after the hydrogen-charging process, tensile test was conducted at ambient temperature and an initial strain rate of 3.3 x 10-4 s-1. Besides, state and amount of hydrogen absorbed in the specimen were determined with a thermal desorption gas spectroscopy (TDS) at a heating rate of 5.6 x 10-2 K s-1. As a result, almost no hydrogen was absorbed in the as-received IF steel charged for a long time of ca. 300 ks, and a fracture strain of the steel was independent of the charging time. On the other hand, amount of hydrogen in the 5-cycle ARBed steel increased with an increase in the charging time, and the fracture strain decreased with an increase in the charging time, indicating that the ARBed steel exhibited susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement.

Abstract: Aging behavior and mechanical properties of ultra fine grained Cu-Cr-Zr alloy sheet produced by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process were investigated. A Cu-0.85Cr-0.07Zr (in mass%) alloy was solution treated and then cold-rolled at ambient temperature in the sheet of 1 mm thick. The sheets were heavily deformed by ARB process at ambient temperature up to 5 cycles. The grain size was reduced down to 210 nm and the fraction of high angle grain boundaries (HAGB’s) in the specimen after ARB process was 63%. The proof stress ( σ 0.2) and elongation were 540 MPa and 10%, respectively. Due to the aging treatment, a little grain growth took place (240 nm) and the fraction of HAGB’s was increased to 67%. The proof stress and elongation of the aged one increased to 605 MPa and 15%, respectively. It was noteworthy that the electrical conductivity remarkably increased from 35% to 79%IACS by the aging treatment. It was concluded that the aging treatment after ARB process enhanced not only the mechanical properties but also the electrical conductivity in the Cu-Cr-Zr alloys.

Abstract: Grain boundary structures in the commercial purity aluminum (1100Al) highly deformed by the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process was observed by using conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). In the low angle grain boundary with a tilt angle (2θ) of 2.1o consisted of the periodic dislocations array, the interval of those dislocations could be explained by the dislocation model for grain boundary. However, the dense dislocation region locally existed at the vicinity of the low angle boundary. On the other hand, we also observed the high angle grain boundary of which the common axis and 2θ was <110> and 125.9o, respectively. In this grain boundary, we could describe the boundary configuration in terms of the combination of the kite-shaped structure unit characterized by Σ11 coincidence boundary with the 2θ of 129.52o around <110> and the additional dislocations to compensate the difference of the actual and geometrically coincided one.

Abstract: Grain boundary mobility in preferential growth of cube grains ({100}<001>) was evaluated by in-situ electron back scattering diffraction pattern (EBSP) analysis in order to clarify the fundamental mechanism of primary recrystallization in pure aluminum foils of 99.9% purity thermo-mechanically processed in the industrial production route for aluminum foils for electrolytic capacitors. We have carried out the continuous EBSP measurements during recrystallization of the aluminum foils heated to various temperatures in the chamber of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We have succeeded in dynamic observation of the preferential growth of cube grains by the in-situ EBSP analysis. The in-situ EBSP analysis could reveal the migration rate of grain boundaries surrounding the cube grains. It was clarified that the proportional relation between migration rate and annealing time was satisfied. The stored energy providing the driving force for the grain boundary migration during primary recrystallization could be estimated from the misorientation within the deformed grains. The mobility of the grain boundary could be evaluated using the measured grain boundary migration rate and stored energy. Then the activation energy could be estimated by the in-situ EBSP analysis at various temperatures ranging from 270°C to 310°C. The obtained activation energy was 124 kJ/mol, which approximately corresponded to that for the diffusion of impurity such as iron or silicon in aluminum. This suggested that the rate-determining process of the grain boundary migration of cube grains was impurity diffusion in the pure aluminum foils.

Abstract: Al-Mg-Si alloy is the suitable material for the automotive body application. However, it is found that a rope-like profile (ridging) develops when the Al-Mg-Si alloy sheet is stretched along the transverse direction. In this study, in order to clarify the formation process of ridging developed in Al-Mg-Si alloy, the relation between ridging and texture components of the sheet was investigated by 3D profile microscope and SEM/EBSD method. It was found that the ridging developed remarkably in the hot-rolled (at higher temperature) and annealed sheets. In ridging sample, there was the band of cube oriented grains (cube band). It was also found that the region of cube band corresponded to the ridges and valleys which caused a rope-like profile in the sheets. It could be thought that the difference of plastic deformability between cube-oriented grains and other oriented grains led to the development of ridging. This assumption is supported by the lower Taylor factor of cube oriented grains than other oriented grains. From these results, it was concluded that the development of ridging was strongly affected by the distribution of cube oriented grains.

Abstract: Grain boundary structures in the Accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) processed copper (ARB-Cu) have been studied. The grain boundary structures were observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). In order to clarify the difference between the grain boundaries in ARB-Cu and equilibrium boundaries, calculated atomic structure of symmetric tilt grain boundaries with <110> common axis (<110> symmetric tilt grain boundary; <110> STGB) in Cu were used. The near 14° boundary in the ARB-Cu could be described by the dislocation model, but the dense dislocation region existed near the grain boundary. The high angle boundaries in ARB-Cu could be described by the structural units which were obtained by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Furthermore, in the 2 cycles and 6 cycles ARB-Cu (2cARB-Cu and 6cARB-Cu), the deformation twin boundaries could be observed and described by the structural unit. Therefore, it was concluded that the grain boundary structure in the ARB-Cu was not much different from the normal equilibrium grain boundary and explained by conventional dislocation and structural unit models.

Abstract: The recrystallization behavior and texture development in copper accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) processed by various cycles (2, 4 and 6 cycle) were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis and SEM/EBSP method. The exothermic peaks caused by recrystallization appeared at 210 ~ 253 􀍠 in each sample. The peak positions shifted to lower temperature as the number of ARB cycles increased. This result indicated that the evolution of finer microstructure with increasing number of the ARB cycles enhanced the occurrence of recrystallization at lower temperature. The stored energy calculated from the DSC curve of the ARB processed copper increased with the increasing strains. During an annealing, the preferential growth of cube-oriented grains ({100}<001>) occurred in each sample. The recystallization behavior of ARB processed copper having low stacking fault energies was distinguished from that of so-called “recovery type” materials, i.e. aluminum and low carbon steels, which shows rather continuous changes in microstructure during annealing. The accumulated strains provided the driving force for the preferential growth, which was the same mechanism as the preferential growth in normally rolled copper. The sharpest cube texture developed in ARB processed copper by 4 cycles. The difference of cube texture development between 2 cycles and 4 cycles was caused by the distribution of cube-oriented regions which corresponded to the nucleation sites of recrystallized grains before annealing. More nanocystalline layers in the vicinity of bonded interfaces were distributed in ARB processed copper by 6 cycles than 4cycles. The nanocystalline structure could grow faster than the cube-oriented grains and led to the inhibition of sharp cube texture in the ARB processed copper by 6 cycles.

Abstract: In the present study, grain boundary energy and atomic structure of <110> symmetric tilt boundaries in copper were evaluated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. From the simulations, the grain boundary energy of <110> symmetric tilt boundaries depended on misorientation angle and there were large energy cusps at the misorientation angles which corresponded to (111) S 3 and (113) S 11 symmetric tilt boundaries. It was found that the atomic structure of each <110> symmetric tilt boundary was described by the combination of three kinds of structural units which consisted of (331) S 19, (111) S 3 and (113) S 11 symmetric tilt boundaries and two single crystal units which consisted of (110) S 1and (001) S 1 single crystals. From the the analysis of the excess free volume in each grain boundary, it was found that the energy of structural units depended on the excess free volume of the units and that the misorientation dependence of grain boundary energy agreed with that of the free volume in grain boundaries.