A.G. Rao

Effects of temperature and strain rate on compressive flow behavior of aluminum-boron carbide composites

Flow properties of aluminum and aluminum-boron carbide (Al-B4C) composites, containing 5, 10 and 15 wt% B4C, were investigated by compression tests at strain rates of 10−4, 10−3 and 10−2 s−1 over the temperature range 25 to 500℃. The nature of stress–strain curves as a function of reinforcement, temperature and strain rate revealed that (1) flow stress initially increases as the reinforcement increases, but it decreases for Al-15% B4C composite, (2) flow stress increases with the increase in strain rate, with the strain rate sensitivity index varying from 0.01 for aluminum at 200℃ to 0.30 for Al-5% B4C composite. The activation energy for deformation is found to vary from 124 to 187 kJ/mol for Al-15% B4C and Al-5% B4C composites, respectively.

On the High Temperature Deformation Behaviour of 2507 Super Duplex Stainless Steel

High temperature deformation behaviour of 2507 super duplex stainless steel was investigated by conducting isothermal hot compression tests. The dominant restoration processes in ferrite and austenite phases present in the material were found to be distinct. The possible causes for these differences are discussed. Based on the dynamic materials model, processing map was developed to identify the optimum processing parameters. The microstructural mechanisms operating in the material were identified. A unified strain-compensated constitutive equation was established to describe the high temperature deformation behaviour of the material under the identified processing conditions. Standard statistical parameter such as correlation coefficient has been used to validate the established equation.

Comparison of flow behavior of as-cast and hot rolled Al-B4C composites by constant and differential strain rate tests

High temperature tensile flow behavior of aluminum-boron carbide (Al-B4C) composites of 0, 5 and 15% B4C, hot rolled to ~88% with intermediate annealing at 350 °C, was investigated by constant initial strain rate (CIS) test technique at 500 °C and strain rate jump test technique over the temperature range of 400–500 °C. In the as-cast condition, the flow stresses obtained between CIS and strain rate jump test techniques were found to be significantly different at 500 °C. The strain rate sensitivity index (m) was found to be ~0.1 over for all the composites in both as-cast as well as hot rolled condition. Tensile elongations were found to be 0.36 in both as-cast and hot rolled aluminum, whereas the same reduced in Al-5% B4C composite to 0.35 and 0.27, respectively. The values of activation energy (Q) for deformation of rolled aluminum and Al-5% B4C composite were determined to be 194.2 and 73.4 kJ/mol, respectively. The microstructural examination, using SEM and EBSD techniques, revealed cavitation in aluminum upon differential strain rate test, and grain refinement upon rolling, which increased later during tensile test.