Astrid Perlade

Mechanism of Austenite Formation from Spheroidized Microstructure in an Intermediate Fe-0.1C-3.5Mn Steel

The austenitization from a spheroidized microstructure during intercritical annealing was studied in a Fe-0.1C-3.5Mn alloy. The austenite grains preferentially nucleate and grow from intergranular cementite. The nucleation at intragranular cementite is significantly retarded or even suppressed. The DICTRA software, assuming local equilibrium conditions, was used to simulate the austenite growth kinetics at various temperatures and for analyzing the austenite growth mechanism. The results indicate that both the mode and the kinetics of austenite growth strongly depend on cementite composition. With sufficiently high cementite Mn content, the austenite growth is essentially composed of two stages, involving the partitioning growth controlled by Mn diffusion inside ferrite, followed by a stage controlled by Mn diffusion within austenite for final equilibration. The partitioning growth results in a homogeneous distribution of carbon within austenite, which is supported by NanoSIMS carbon mapping.

A thermostatistical theory for solid solution effects in the hot deformation of alloys: an application to low-alloy steels

The hot deformation of low-alloy steels is described by a thermostatistical theory of plastic deformation. This is based on defining a statistical entropy term that accounts for the energy dissipation due to possible dislocation displacements. In this case, dilute substitutional and interstitial atom effects alter such paths. The dislocation population is described by a single parameter equation, with the parameter being the average dislocation density. Solute effects incorporate additional dislocation generation sources. They alter the energy barriers corresponding to the activation energies for dislocation recovery, grain nucleation and growth. The model is employed to describe work hardening and dynamic recrystallization softening in fifteen steels for a wide range of compositions, temperatures and strain rates. Maps for dynamic recrystallization occurrence are defined in terms of processing conditions and composition.

Predicting the evolution of dislocation density following hot deformation

A model to predict the evolution of dislocation density following hot deformation is presented in this article. The model is validated by stress relaxation experiments on austenite at various temperatures. It is found that the activation energy for self-diffusion is the rate-controlling parameter determining the evolution of dislocation density, and hence the recovery rate. A methodology to control the softening experienced by high-temperature alloys is proposed.

Restitution of the Shapes and Orientations of the Prior Austenitic Grains from Inherited Alpha' Orientation Maps in Steels

We propose to reconstruct the g orientation maps from the α maps inherited by the bainitic or martensitic γ→α phase transformation. Our approach comprises two main steps (1) identification of reliable fractions of parent grains – each γ fraction is determined from neighbouring variants related to a unique γ orientation with a low tolerance angle; (2) expansion of these fractions by collecting adjacent variants being in orientation relation (OR) with the calculated g orientation - using a higher tolerance around the strict OR. Moreover, this fully automated g map reconstruction is further improved by an additional semi-automated analysis of α/γ maps. This reconstruction procedure was applied to the α microtexture of bainitic steels. The reliability of the calculations was checked by comparing each γ grain orientation and their corresponding α variants. The results show that even with a large spread around OR, the shape and orientation of most of the γ grains are accurately calculated.