Timo Manninen

The Effect of Niobium Carbides and Laves Phase on the Yielding Behaviour of a Stabilized Ferritic Stainless Steel

High-chromium ferritic stainless steels have been developed for applications such as exhaust systems that require good formability. To improve formability, continuous yielding is preferred. However, in high-chromium ferritic stainless steels an upper yield point is often present as a result of free interstitials and Cottrell atmospheres. The upper yield point can be removed by temper rolling but it would be better to avoid it via a suitable heat treatment. This paper describes how this can be done in the case of a ferritic stainless steel containing 0.011%C, 0.012%N, 18%Cr, 2,1%Mo, 0.33%Nb, 0.15Ti%. Despite the presence of Nb and Ti, which should bind the free carbon and nitrogen as carbides and nitrides, an upper yield point was still observed. Previously it has been suspected that this is due to an intermetallic Laves phase present in this steel depleting the Nb in the matrix so that some carbon remains free. A series of short-term annealing experiments showed that the upper yield point diminishes, when the annealing temperature increases above 550 °C, finally disappearing after a heat treatment at 750 °C. On the basis of Thermo-Calc calculations and EDS analyses, free interstitials in the matrix could be related to depletion of MX or insufficient time to reach the equilibrium state.

Influence of Cooling Rate on Free Interstitial Concentration in Type 430 Ferritic Stainless Steel

In ferritic steels, the amount of free C and N should be as low as possible to avoid the formation of Cottrell atmospheres and their associated discontinuous yielding and Lüders bands during forming. During the post-annealing cooling of ferritic stainless steel, carbides and nitrides of the type MX and M23C6 precipitate. The volume fraction of the precipitates is determined by chemical composition, microstructure and the cooling path. In some cases, precipitation might not be sufficient to remove all free interstitials from the matrix, in which case, the process parameters or composition of the steel should be reconsidered. Here, thermodynamic and kinetic calculations using Thermo-calc and TC Prisma software have been made to investigate the precipitation of C and N as a function of total interstitial content and cooling rate. According to the calculations, decreasing the cooling rate would result in a more efficient precipitation and hence, less free C and N in the matrix, but the amount is not sufficient to remove the upper yield point. Furthermore, changing the C and N content of the steel was found to have insignificant influence. However, the free C and N could possible be bound through a more complex cooling.

On Necking, Fracture and Localization of Plastic Flow in Austenitic Stainless Steel Sheets

The forming limits of austenitic stainless steel sheets were studied in this work. It was found that the observed limit of straining in stretch forming, when both of the principal stresses are positive, is not set by localized necking, but instead by inclined shearing fracture in the through thickness direction. It appears that the forming limits of austenitic stainless steels may be predicted fairly well by using the classical localized and diffuse necking criteria developed by Hill. The strain path‐dependence may be accounted for by integrating the effective strain along the strain path. The fracture criteria of Rice and Tracey and Cockcroft, Latham and Oh were also studied. The results were in qualitative agreement with the experimental observations. Recent experiments with high‐velocity electrohydraulic forming of austenitic stainless steels revealed localized necks in stretch formed parts, which are not commonly observed in conventionally formed sheet metal parts.

Mechanical properties of nanocrystalline HVOF coatings

Thermal spraying (TS) is increasingly used to deposit thick wear resistant coatings on machine and equipment parts. Therefore, it is of uttermost importance to know their mechanical properties in order to tailor and optimize the coatings for various applications. Typically properties of the thermal sprayed coatings are inferior as compared to corresponding bulk materials for various reasons. Furthermore, measurement of mechanical properties of coatings is much more tedious and difficult than deriving bulk properties. In this paper, mechanical properties of alumina based nanocrystalline coatings and the measurement techniques developed are reported. A model relating the microstructure of the sprayed coatings and their properties is introduced and discussed.