Seok Su Sohn

Microstructural analysis of cracking phenomenon occurring during cold rolling of (0.1~0.7)C-3Mn-5Al lightweight steels

An investigation was conducted into the cracking phenomenon occurring during the cold rolling of lightweight steel plates. Four steels of varying C contents were fabricated and steel plates containing C contents of 0.5wt% or higher were cracked during the initial stage of the cold rolling. The steels were basically composed of ferrite grains and -carbides in a band shape, but the volume fraction and thickness of κ-carbide band increased as the C content increased. Microstructural observation of the deformed region of fractured tensile specimens revealed that deformation bands were homogeneously formed in wide areas of ferrite matrix in the steels containing C contents of 0.3 wt% or lower, while κ-carbide bands were hardly deformed or cracked. In the steels containing high C contents of 0.5 wt% or higher, on the other hand, microcracks were initiated mostly at fine proeutectoid ferrite located within κ-carbide bands, and were grown further to coalesce with other microcracks to form long cracks. To prevent the cracking, thus, the proeutectoid ferrite should be minimized by the hot rolling in the (α+γ) two phase region. As practical methods, the content of C below 0.5% or Al above 5% was suggested to expand the (α+γ) phase region.

Cryogenic strength improvement by utilizing room-temperature deformation twinning in a partially recrystallized VCrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy

The excellent cryogenic tensile properties of the CrMnFeCoNi alloy are generally caused by deformation twinning, which is difficult to achieve at room temperature because of insufficient stress for twinning. Here, we induced twinning at room temperature to improve the cryogenic tensile properties of the CrMnFeCoNi alloy. Considering grain size effects on the critical stress for twinning, twins were readily formed in the coarse microstructure by cold rolling without grain refinement by hot rolling. These twins were retained by partial recrystallization and played an important role in improving strength, allowing yield strengths approaching 1 GPa. The persistent elongation up to 46% as well as the tensile strength of 1.3 GPa are attributed to additional twinning in both recrystallized and non-recrystallization regions. Our results demonstrate that non-recrystallized grains, which are generally avoided in conventional alloys because of their deleterious effect on ductility, can be useful in achieving high-strength high-entropy alloys.

Effects of microstructure and pre-strain on Bauschinger effect in API X70 and X80 linepipe steels

In this study, effects of microstructure and pre-strain on the Bauschinger effect were investigated in two API X70 and two API X80 linepipe steel sheets fabricated by controlling the cooling condition, and their yield strength and Bauschinger parameters were measured by the tension-compression test with varying tension pre-strain. The fast-cooled steels had the higher fraction of acicular ferrite, granular bainite and martensite-austenite (MA) constituents and smaller grain sizes. The reduction in yield stress (ΔYS) of the steels having a higher fraction of MA and smaller grain sizes was higher than that of the steels having a lower fraction of MA and larger grain sizes. The ΔYS was smallest at the pre-strain of 1%, reached the maximum at the pre-strain of 2%, and then decreased with increasing pre-strain. This result could be explained by the amounts of mobile dislocations and back stress, which affected the Bauschinger effect and strain hardening effect simultaneously. Since these two effects affected the yield strength on a competing basis, the Bauschinger stress and hardening parameter were used to separately analyze these effects. It could be confirmed that the Bauschinger effect and strain hardening effect were activated at pre-strains of 1–2% and 3–4%, respectively.

Key factors of stretch-flangeability of sheet materials

Abstract Stretch-flangeability evaluated using hole-expansion testing represents the ability of sheet materials to resist edge fracture during complex shape forming. Despite a property imperative for automotive part applications of advanced high-strength steels, factors governing stretch-flangeability are not yet well understood. In this study, the mechanical properties of a selected group of materials with different microstructures were investigated using tensile, fracture toughness, and hole-expansion tests to find the factor governing the stretch-flangeability that is universally applicable to a variety of metallic materials. It was found that the fracture toughness of materials, measured using the fracture initiation energy, is a universal factor governing stretch-flangeability. We verified that fracture toughness is the key factor governing stretch-flangeability, showing that the hole-expansion ratio could be well predicted using finite element analysis associated with a simple ductile damage model, without explicitly taking into account the microstructural complexity of each specimen. This validates the use of the fracture toughness as a key factor of stretch-flangeability.

Characterization of twin-like structure in a ferrite-based lightweight steel

The present study examined cold to warm compressive deformation behavior of a ferrite- based lightweight steel through characterization of the banded structures. Compression tests were carried out at 25 to 500 °C at a strain rate of 0.01 s-1 up to true strain of 0.6. Analysis of the microstructural evolution using electron back scatter diffraction indicated that the twin-like bands in the large ferrite grains occurred with the {112}[111] system at a 60° misorientation. Density of the twin-like bands is increased by raising the deformation temperature. EBSD results showed that the primary and secondary twins occurred in the [-11-1] and [1-1-1] directions. In addition, the strain at 500 °C distorted the twin-like bands and resulted in wavy boundaries. The strain hardening behavior was also examined using the Crussard-Jaoul (C-J) model and the n-values were calculated for each stage of imposing strain. The results showed high dislocation density in the adjacent of twin-like boundaries intersections which resulted in the n-value increment.

Tensile property improvement of TWIP-cored three-layer steel sheets fabricated by hot-roll-bonding with low-carbon steel or interstitial-free steel

TWIP-cored three-layer steel sheets were newly fabricated by hot rolling of TWIP steel sheet surrounded by low-carbon (LC) or interstitial-free (IF) steel sheets. TWIP/LC or TWIP/IF interfaces were well bonded without pores or voids, while a few pearlites were thinly formed along the interfaces. The strengths and elongation of the TWIP-cored sheets increased as the volume fraction of TWIP-cored region increased, and were also well matched with the ones calculated by a rule of mixtures based on volume fraction or force fraction. According to digital image correlation and electron back-scatter diffraction analyses, very high strain hardening effect in the initial deformation stage and active twin formation in the interfacial region beneficially affected the overall homogeneous deformation in the TWIP-cored sheets without any yield point phenomenon occurring in the LC sheet and serrations occurring in the TWIP sheet, respectively. These TWIP-cored sheets can cover a wide range of yield strength, tensile strength, and ductility levels, e.g., 320~498 MPa, 545~878 MPa, and 48~54%, respectively, by controlling the volume fraction of TWIP-cored region, and thus present new applications to multi-functional automotive steel sheets requiring excellent properties.

Dramatic improvement of strain hardening and ductility to 95% in highly-deformable high-strength duplex lightweight steels

Ferrite + austenite duplex lightweight steels have been actively developed by adding low-density Al for overcoming a limitation of stiffness deterioration by a traditional approach to obtain a weight reduction. Multiple-stage deformation mechanism in lightweight steels, i.e., simultaneous formation of deformation-induced martensite and deformation twin and additional plasticity by twinning, has been nominated as an attractive strategy, but shows a steady flow behavior with early plastic instability. Here, we present a newly designed Fe-0.3C-9Mn-5Al steel in order to obtain an optimal level of stability of austenite and a resultant outstanding combination of tensile strength and ductility, e.g., 874 MPa and 72%, together with sufficiently high strain hardening. These enhanced properties are attributed to the decreased austenite stability by controlling the austenite size and alloying partitioning due to variation in austenite fraction inside duplex microstructures. The present work gives a promise for structural applications requiring both reduced specific weight and remarkable deformability.

Understanding the physical metallurgy of the CoCrFeMnNi high-entropy alloy: an atomistic simulation study

Although high-entropy alloys (HEAs) are attracting interest, the physical metallurgical mechanisms related to their properties have mostly not been clarified, and this limits wider industrial applications, in addition to the high alloy costs. We clarify the physical metallurgical reasons for the materials phenomena (sluggish diffusion and micro-twining at cryogenic temperatures) and investigate the effect of individual elements on solid solution hardening for the equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi HEA based on atomistic simulations (Monte Carlo, molecular dynamics and molecular statics). A significant number of stable vacant lattice sites with high migration energy barriers exists and is thought to cause the sluggish diffusion. We predict that the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure is more stable than the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure at 0 K, which we propose as the fundamental reason for the micro-twinning at cryogenic temperatures. The alloying effect on the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) is well predicted by the atomistic simulation, used for a design of non-equiatomic fcc HEAs with improved strength, and is experimentally verified. This study demonstrates the applicability of the proposed atomistic approach combined with a thermodynamic calculation technique to a computational design of advanced HEAs.High entropy alloys: property predictionAtomistic calculations elucidate crucial strengthening mechanisms in high entropy alloys and predict better performing compositions. A team led by Byeong-Joo Lee at South Korea’s Pohang University of Science and Technology used various simulations techniques to study the movement of atoms in a series of disordered high entropy alloys. They attributed sluggish diffusion in the classic CoCrFeMnNi alloy to the large number of stable vacancy sites, and at cryogenic temperatures showed that micro-twinning was due to a more stable hexagonal crystal structure. Finally, they used their simulation results to predict the effect of alloying on the critical resolved shear stress and designed a high entropy alloy with improved properties. A computational approach to the design of high entropy alloys may thus help us develop more complex alloys and tailor their properties.

Novel 1.5 GPa-strength with 50%-ductility by transformation-induced plasticity of non-recrystallized austenite in duplex steels

Needs for steel designs of ultra-high strength and excellent ductility have been an important issue in worldwide automotive industries to achieve energy conservation, improvement of safety, and crashworthiness qualities. Because of various drawbacks in existing 1.5-GPa-grade steels, new development of formable cold-rolled ultra-high-strength steels is essentially needed. Here we show a plausible method to achieve ultra-high strengths of 1.0~1.5 GPa together with excellent ductility above 50% by actively utilizing non-recrystallization region and TRansformation-Induced Plasticity (TRIP) mechanism in a cold-rolled and annealed Fe-Mn-Al-C-based steel. We adopt a duplex microstructure composed of austenite and ultra-fine ferrite in order to overcome low-yield-strength characteristics of austenite. Persistent elongation up to 50% as well as ultra-high yield strength over 1.4 GPa are attributed to well-balanced mechanical stability of non-crystallized austenite with critical strain for TRIP. Our results demonstrate how the non-recrystallized austenite can be a metamorphosis in 1.5-GPa-grade steel sheet design.

Adiabatic shear banding and cracking phenomena occurring during cold-forging simulation tests of plain carbon steel wire rods by using a split Hopkinson’s pressure bar

Adiabatic shear banding and cracking phenomena occurring during cold forging of plain carbon steel wire rods, whose carbon content was varied from 0.2 to 0.8 wt%, were analyzed by forging simulation test using a split Hopkinson’s pressure bar. The test results indicated that the 0.2C and 0.3C steels were dynamically compressed without surface defects after the fifth hit, whereas a deep crack was formed along the 45° direction in the 0.8C steel. In all the steels, adiabatic shear bands were formed diagonally inside forging-simulated specimens, and grains were extremely elongated within shear bands. The higher the volume fraction of pearlite was, the easier was the adiabatic shear banding. Particularly in the 0.8C steel, the shear band was white-colored and narrow, along which a long crack was formed. After the spheroidization treatment of the 0.8C steel, adiabatic shear bands or cracks were not found during the forging simulation test as the steel was relatively homogeneously deformed, which indicated that the spheroidization effectively prevented the adiabatic shear banding or cracking. The present forging simulation test plausibly evaluated the cold-forging performance by controlling the number and amount of hit, and provided an important idea on whether the spheroidization was needed or not.