Materials Science Forum Vol. 753

Abstract: A study has been carried out on the evolution of microstructure, grain boundary character and mechanical properties in a Twinning Induced Plasticity steel heavily cold rolled and subsequently annealed.The cold rolled mcrostructures showed fine lamellar boundaries with many shear bands.With progress of annealing, numerous numbers of recrystallized grains were generated.The fully recrystallized steel showed equi-axed nanocrystalline grains with a mean grain size of 400 nm that enhanced the yield strength significantly while retaining tensile ductility.

Abstract: The effects of inter-pass ageing temperature during cold rolling on structure, magnetic properties and mechanical properties of high permeability grain oriented electrical steel was studied. The samples were processed in a single-stage cold rolling to 0.27 mm thickness, with 88 % reduction, without and with inter-pass ageing treatment in order to determine the magnetic properties. To determine the changes in mechanical properties due to strain ageing, the samples underwent overlapped ageing, after pre-strain by rolling, under the same conditions of inter-pass ageing and then were subjected to tensile test. The effect of strain ageing was more pronounced in the thickness of 0.7 mm and the largest variation in yield strength was at 200°C in all evaluated thicknesses. At this temperature the largest amount of {110} orientation after primary recrystallization was also observed, as well as the lowest final grain size and consequently the best results of core loss. The magnetic induction had almost no alterations.

Abstract: In this work, the conventional rolling (CR) and warm rolling (WR) have been carried out with an ultra purified ferritic stainless steel. After different rolling processes and subsequent recrystallization annealing, different recrystallized microstructure characteristics had been obtained. It was observed that as compared to the conventional process, the warm rolling and subsequent recrystallization annealing could obviously refine the recrystallized microstructure of the hot band. The ductile-to-brittle transition for the ultra purified ferritic stainless steel can be closely related to the occurrence of deformation twinning. The refined microstructure can decrease the temperature at which twinning occurs and, consequently, the ductile-brittle transition temperature for the ultra purified ferritic stainless steel was lowered to be below -40°C, and its notch toughness was significantly improved when the fine grain route can be applied.

Abstract: Grain oriented electrical steels should have low core loss and high magnetic flux density. These properties are closely related with sharpness of {110} texture after secondary recrystallization. This Goss texture develops by abnormal grain growth during secondary recrystallization annealing. Based on experimental results, a general suggestion which estimates the magnetic properties after secondary recrystallization from a primary recrystallized texture can be made. For a material to have better magnetic properties after secondary recrystallization, its primary recrystallized texture should have not only larger number of ideal Goss grains, but also lower frequency of low angle grain boundary around those Goss grains.

Abstract: Data are presented on the x-ray line broadening distribution over the texture of cold-rolled Nb and Mo sheets. The method of generalized X-ray pole figures, which combine texture measurements with X-ray line profile analysis, is employed. The X-ray line broadening is considered as an indicator of residual deformation effects. It was revealed that these effects in cold-rolled BCC metals rise as the grain orientation shifts away from texture maxima towards texture minima. The intensity of X-ray reflections change during annealing at 200 – 500C and this change correlates with the line broadening. The recrystallization texture of BCC metals is dominated by orientations deflected from the peak maxima by 25 – 30 deg. These orientations in the deformed structure have relatively high stored energy. Their volume fraction is sufficient for them to be able to consume most of the deformed matrix.

Abstract: The effects of microstructure and texture on the toughness anisotropy of two API-X70 pipeline steels were investigated. One steel contained no nickel (0Ni) and the other contained 0.3 wt pct nickel (0.3Ni). Charpy V-notch impact testing was conducted on plate samples for both steels in three directions: longitudinal (L), transverse (T), and diagonal (D) with respect to the rolling direction. The microstructures of both steels were mixed and consisted of acicular ferrite, granular bainite, and small amounts of polygonal ferrite, with martensite-austenite and retained austenite islands as secondary phases. The ductile to brittle transition temperatures (DBTT) for the Charpy impact test were higher in the D direction for both plates, with a pronounced increase in the 0Ni steel. The anisotropy in toughness was mainly attributed to the crystallographic texture.

Abstract: The Strain-Induced Dynamic Transformation (SIDT) is an efficient way to overcome the limitation of grain refinement during the conventional thermomechanical controlled processing (TMCP) of steels. The present study deals with the effects of austenite morphology on the SIDT in microalloyed and IF steels. The discussion of the processing route in terms of chemical composition, deformation schedules, heating and cooling conditions is carried out by the means of torsion tests with deformation in metastable conditions. As it was expected, the microstructure of microalloyed steel was clearly controlled by the microalloying elements what, in turn, directly affectedthe SIDT products. Examination of water-quenched microstructures, just after deformation, revealed the morphology of "strain-induced ferrite". The kinetics of SIDT were observed and analyzed using the strain-stress curves. It is shown that presence of strain-induced precipitations in microalloyed steels accelerates kinetic of SIDT - by reducing the amount of Nb in solution. The changes in ferrite refinement of the experimental steels were explained from the view of the austenite morphology and processing parameters.

Abstract: The factors affecting pipeline fractures are reviewed briefly, with particular emphasis on the influence of the {100} texture component. The deformation texture components introduced by rolling in the austenite temperature range are introduced, together with the component changes associated with recrystallization. The effect of the γ-to-α phase transformation on the austenite deformation and recrystallization texture components is described. The changes to the texture brought about by rolling in the ferrite (or in the intercritical) phase field are also outlined. The controlled rolling parameters that promote minimization of the texture intensity of the deleterious {100} component are summarized.

Abstract: The grain size, recrystallization, phase transformation and mechanical properties of a cold-rolled high-strength steel (HSS) are studied after annealing with high (~140°C/s) and ultra-high (~1500°C/s) reheating rate, followed by subsequent water quenching without isothermal soaking. By monitoring the hardness and microstructure, it was shown that the increase of the reheating rate from 140°C/s to 1500°C/s causes grain refinement from 5 µm to 1 µm in diameter and the final ferrite grain size depends significantly on the reheating temperature and reheating rate. It was observed that after an extreme reheating rate of ~1500°C/s the α-γ phase transformation starts before the completion of recrystallization in the recovered matrix. The crystallographic texture of the ultrafast reheated and water-quenched high-strength steel inherits the cold-rolled deformation texture with well pronounced RD and ND texture fibres, even after the α-γ-α′ phase transformations. It was found that the ultrafast reheating results in a very fine non-equilibrium ferrite-martensite structure with an excellent ultimate tensile strength of ~1400 MPa and an acceptable elongation at fracture. The observed data are very promising from industrial application point of view and open up possibilities for further structural refinement and alternative texture control.

Abstract: Here we review research in which Vickers hardness tests, optical microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and atom probe tomography were used to understand the strengthening effects that can be found with Nb in CASTRIP® steels during thermo-mechanical processing and ageing. Nb addition favours the grain refinement of ferrite by inhibiting the austenite recrystallization when hot rolled and provides a strong cluster-hardening effect during ageing.