Papers by Author: Toshihiro Tsuchiyama

Abstract: Quenching and partitioning (Q&P) treatment was applied to a commercial low carbon martensitic stainless steel, AISI Type 410 (Fe-12Cr-0.1C). The condition of partial quenching and partitioning was optimized with consideration of the untransformed austenite fraction and stability of austenite (carbon concentration in solid solution). As a result, the amount of retained austenite could be increased up to approximately 15 vol%. Tensile testing revealed that the specimens after Q&P heat treatment exhibited lower yield stress and larger work hardening rate compared with quench-and-tempered (Q&T) specimens under the same tensile strength level, resulting in a significantly better strength-ductility balance. It was confirmed that the TRIP effect had contributed to the mechanical property.

Abstract: The work hardening behavior was investigated in ferritic steels containing hard particles or soft Cu particles with various volume fractions and particle diameters, and then the effect of plastically deformable soft particles on the work hardening was evaluated in terms of the accumulation of GN dislocations. The amount of work hardening and dislocation density increased with an increase of volume fraction of dispersion particles and a decrease of particle diameter in hard particle dispersion steel. On the other hand, in soft Cu particle dispersion steel, the effect of volume fraction and particle diameter on work hardening behavior was relatively small. TEM observation suggested that stress relaxation around particle takes place by plastic deformation of Cu particle itself. In order to consider the effect of plastic deformation of Cu particles on accumulation of GN dislocations, "particle plastic accommodation parameter" was proposed to modify the Ashby's work hardening theory. As a result, the amount of work hardening was successfully predicted for both the hard and soft particle dispersion steels

Abstract: In ferritic stainless steels, the amount of Cr is moderately controlled to have good corrosion resistance in applied environment. However, it also affects the yield strength of ferritic stainless steels through solid solution strengthening and grain refinement strengthening. Until now, some researches have been performed using commercial stainless steels but the obtained results contain the effect of solute interstitials (C and N). In this paper, the influence of Cr on the above both strengthening mechanism was discussed by using interstitial free ferritic stainless steel in which carbon and nitrogen are completely fixed as Ti(C,N). A previous paper has reported that the addition of chromium gives different influences to the Hall-Petch coefficient depending on the amount of Cr. However, our research has reveals the fact that the change of Hall-Petch coefficient is not due to the effect of chromium but due to small amount of carbon which exists as an impurity in ferritic stainless steels. It was concluded that chromium itself does not give any influence to the Hall-Petch coefficient of ferritic iron.

Abstract: Deformation-induced martensite preferentially nucleates at the twin boundary between matrix austenite and deformation twin in 316 type stainless steel. In the cold-rolled specimen, the martensite formed at the twin boundary has K-S relationships with both of the austenite matrix and the deformation twin, that is, “double K-S relationship” is realized. While in the case of cold-drawn specimen, two kinds of twins with different twin planes are typically observed, and therefore, the deformation-induced martensites are formed at the intersections of the two deformation twin boundaries, satisfying “triple K-S relationship” among austenite matrix and two deformation twins, although there is a small misfit from the perfect K-S relationship. The complicated crystallographic orientation relationship leads to a strong variant restriction for deformation-induced martensites. Due to the difference in the number of nucleation sites, martensitic transformation is greatly promoted in cold-drawn specimen rather than cold-rolled one.

Abstract: The Fe-25Cr-1N alloy produced by solution nitriding possesses extremely high yield strength owing to the solid solution strengthening by nitrogen. However, it was found that the steel exhibited an insufficient elongation because of the brittle intergranular fracture caused during the uniform tensile deformation. This is due to the marked stress concentration at grain boundaries, which is derived from the grain coarsening caused during long time solution nitriding and the development of planar dislocation structure characteristic of high nitrogen austenitic steels. The most effective way to reduce the stress concentration at grain boundary during deformation should be grain refinement. In this study, grain refinement was attempted by the two-step heat treatment for the Fe-25Cr-1N(-Mn) alloy, and then the mechanical properties were investigated by means of tensile tests and fatigue tests. The two-step heat treatment resulted in the grain refinement of austenite to 20 microns in diameter. The intergranular fracture was greatly suppressed from 70% (as-solution-nitrided) to 10% (grain-refined) in area fraction by the grain refinement. In addition, elongation was markedly increased with local necking. The yield stress and tensile strength were also increased, and thus, the fatigue limit is also raised by more than 30%.

Abstract: The temperature dependence of austenite nucleation behavior within lath martensitic structure was investigated in an ultralow carbon 13%Cr-6%Ni martensitic stainless steel partially reversed at (austenite + ferrite) two phase region. The shape and nucleation site of the reversed austenite grains were varied depending on the reversion temperature; fine acicular austenite grains frequently formed along the lath boundaries at a temperature lower than 915 K, while the granular ones tended to nucleate mainly on the prior austenite grain boundaries at a higher temperature. In order to explain the temperature dependence of nucleation site transition, the difference in energetics of austenite nucleation between the lath boundary and the prior austenite grain boundary was discussed on the basis of the classical nucleation theory and FEM analysis. The calculation of the changes in interfacial energy and elastic strain for austenite nucleation suggested that the lath boundary acts as more preferential nucleation sites for austenite rather than the prior austenite grain boundary to reduce the increment of elastic strain when the reversion temperature is low.

Abstract: The multiple precipitation behavior of NbC and Cu particles in martensitic structure was investigated by using 0.05C-0.46Nb-2Cu-1.5Mn steel (NbC-Cu steel). Additionally, 0.05C-0.45Nb-2Mn steel (NbC steel) and 2Cu-5Mn steel (Cu steel) were also prepared to examine the respective precipitation behaviors of NbC and Cu. Aging treatment at 873K after quenching revealed that these steels exhibit typical age hardening. Comparing the NbC steel and Cu steel in the precipitation rate, the Cu precipitated much faster than the NbC. On the other hand, the peak hardness in NbC-Cu steel is higher than that by the respective precipitations in NbC steel and Cu steel. Besides, the aging time for the peak hardness in NbC-Cu steel was between those in NbC steel and Cu steel. This suggests that the NbC and Cu particles were separately precipitated within martensite matrix and each of them contributed to the hardening in NbC-Cu steel. As a result of TEM investigation for crystallographic characteristics of the precipitates, the NbC and Cu particles had different crystallographic orientation relationship with tempered martensite matrix: Baker-Nutting relationship for NbC particle and Kurdjumov-Sachs relationship for Cu particle.

Abstract: It is well known that the ultra grain refinement can be achieved by sever cold rolling, followed by reversion treatment in metastable austenitic stainless steel plate. In this study, the cold rolling was replaced by cold drawing. This procedure was applied to a metastable austenitic steel (Fe-16Cr-10Ni alloy) thin wire, and then the microstructure development during cold drawing and annealing was investigated. The austenite phase transformed to martensite during the drawing. Vickers hardness of the wire markedly increased with increasing the drawing strain. When the drawing strain reached about 4.5, the wire exhibited martensite single structure and had high hardness of Hv4.4GPa. Annealing of the heavily drawn wire at around 900K for 0.6ks leads to the formation of reversed austenite with the diffusional reversion mechanism. As a result, ultra fine-grained austenitic single structure with the grain size of about 0.6μm was obtained. It was also found that the wire has an excellent combination of a strength and ductility.

Abstract: Solution nitriding and aging treatment were applied to Ti-4mass%Cr alloy in order to fabricate a ductile high-nitrogen titanium alloy with fine (α + β) structure. The solution-nitrided specimen with
α’ martensitic structure was significantly hardened by solid solution strengthening by the absorbed nitrogen. During the aging treatment, fine β grains with a size of 1 microns in thickness precipitated along the martensite-plate boundaries. Although the specimen was softened to some extent after the aging treatment, the hardness is kept much higher than that of the aged Ti-4mass%Cr alloy without solution nitriding. This indicates that the nitrogen is still in solid solution of α phase even after the aging treatment, and contributes to strengthening of the fine-structured Ti-4mass%Cr-N alloy.