Toshihiro Tsuchiyama

Microstructure development of steel during severe plastic deformation

The microstructure development during plastic deformation was reviewed for iron and steel which were subjected to cold rolling or mechanical milling (MM) treatment, and the change in strengthening mechanism caused by the severe plastic deformation (SPD) was also discussed in terms of ultra grain refinement behavior. The microstructure of cold-rolled iron is characterized by a typical dislocation cell structure, where the strength can be explained by dislocation strengthening. It was confirmed that the increase in dislocation density by cold working is limited at 1016m−2, which means the maximum hardness obtained by dislocation strengthening is HV3.7 GPa. However, the iron is abnormally work-hardened over the maximum dislocation strengthening by SPD of MM because of the ultra grain refinement caused by the SPD. In addition, impurity of carbon plays an important role in such grain refinement: the carbon addition leads to the formation of nano-crystallized structure in iron.

Limit of Dislocation Density and Dislocation Strengthening in Iron

The limit of dislocation density was investigated by means of mechanical milling (MM) treatment of an iron powder. Mechanical milling enabled an ultimate severe deformation of iron powder particles and dislocation density in the MM iron powder showed the clear saturation at around the value of 1016m-2. On the other hand, the relation between hardness and dislocation density was examined in cold-rolled iron sheets, and the linear Bailey-Hirsch relationship; HV[GPa]=0.7+3×10-8ρ1/2 was obtained in the dislocation density region up to 3×1015m-2. Extrapolation of the Bailey-Hirsch relationship indicated that the dislocation strengthening should be limited to about 3.7GPa in Vickers hardness which corresponds to about 1.1GPa in 0.2% proof stress.

Deformation Behavior of Ultrafine Grained Iron

Work hardening behavior and microstructure development during deformation by cold rolling were investigated in iron with different grain size. Grain refinement makes the introduction of dislocation easier. For instance, under the same deformation condition (5% reduction in thickness), dislocation density is the order of 1014m-2 in a coarse grained material (mean grain size; 20μm), while it reaches 7×1015m-2 in an ultrafine grained material (0.25μm). It is well known that the yield stress of metals is enlarged with an increase in dislocation density on the basis of the Bailey-Hirsch relationship. However, it should be noted that the ultrafine grained material never undergoes usual work hardening although the dislocation density is surely enhanced to around the order of 1016m-2: 0.2% proof stress is almost constant at 1.4 ~ 1.5GPa regardless of the amount of deformation. The dislocation density of 1016m-2 is thought to be the limit value which can be achieved by cold working of iron and the yield stress of iron with this dislocation density (ρ) is estimated at 1.1GPa from the Bailey-Hirsch relationship; σd [Pa] = 0.1×109 + 10 ρ1/2. On the other hand, yield stress of iron is enhanced by grain refinement on the basis of the Hall-Petch relationship; σgb [Pa] = 0.1×109 + 0.6×109 d-1/2 as to the grain size d [μm]. This equation indicates that the grain size of 0.35 μm gives the same yield stress as that estimated for the limit of dislocation strengthening (1.1GPa). As a result, it was concluded that work hardening can not take place in ultrafine grained iron with the grain size less than 0.35 μm because dislocation strengthening can not exceed the initial yield stress obtained by grain refinement strengthening.

Magnetic scattering in the simultaneous measurement of small-angle neutron scattering and Bragg edge transmission from steel

A technique for the analysis of magnetic scattering has been developed, where small-angle neutron scattering and Bragg edge transmission measurements are performed simultaneously. This technique is shown to provide crystallographic information for ferrite crystallites and nanostructural information for precipitates in steel.

Relationship between Work Hardening Behaviour and Deformation Structure in Ni‐free High Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steels

The work hardening behaviour of high nitrogen austenitic steel (HNS) depends not only on the nitrogen content but also on the addition of substitutional alloying elements such as Mn and Ni, although the effect of nitrogen content has been considered to be a main factor controlling the work hardening rate in HNS. In this study, two kinds of high nitrogen austenitic steels containing nearly 1 mass-% of nitrogen with and without Mn (Fe-25%Cr-1.1%N and Fe-21%Cr-0.9%N-23%Mn alloys) were tensile-tested and their work hardening behaviour was investigated for the purpose of clarifying the effect of Mn on the work hardening behaviour. Then the results were related to the change in deformation substructure. In the Fe-25Cr-1.1N alloy, the work hardening rate kept high until fracture occurred, while in the Fe-21Cr-0.9N-23Mn alloy it tended to decrease gradually with tensile deformation in the high strain region. It was concluded that the difference in work hardening behaviour between both alloys is attributed to the change in dislocation substructure from planar dislocation array to dislocation cell by the addition of Mn.

Effect of Dislocation Distribution on the Yielding of Highly Dislocated Iron

Yield strength of highly dislocated metals is known to be directly proportional to the square root of dislocation density (ρ), so called Bailey-Hirsch relationship. In general, the microstructure of heavily cold worked iron is characterized by cellar tangled dislocations. On the other hand, the dislocation substructure of martensite is characterized by randomly distributed dislocations although it has almost same or higher dislocation density in comparison with heavily cold worked iron. In this paper, yielding behavior of ultra low carbon martensite (Fe-18%Ni alloy) was discussed in connection with microstructural change during cold working. Originally, the elastic proportional limit and 0.2% proof stress is low in as-quenched martensite in spite of its high dislocation density. Small amount of cold rolling results in the decrease of dislocation density from 6.8x1015/m-2 to 3.4x1015/m-2 but both the elastic proportional limit and 0.2% proof stress are markedly increased by contraries. 0.2% proof stress of cold-rolled martensite could be plotted on the extended line of the Bailey-Hirsch equation obtained in cold-rolled iron. It was also confirmed that small amount of cold rolling causes a clear microstructural change from randomly distributed dislocations to cellar tangled dislocations. Martensite contains two types of dislocations; statistically stored dislocation (SS-dislocation) and geometrically necessary dislocation (GN-dislocation). In the early deformation stage, SS-dislocations easily disappear through the dislocation interaction and movement to grain boundaries or surface. This process produces a plastic strain and lowers the elastic proportional limit and 0.2% proof stress in the ultra low carbon martensite.

Effect of Copper Addition on Grain Growth Behavior of Austenite in Low Carbon Steels

The effect of copper (Cu) addition on the grain growth behavior of austenite was investigated in a low carbon steel and a Cu bearing low carbon steel. Cu addition to the steel does not affect the nucleation rate of reversed austenite on heating in the martensitic structure but markedly retards the grain growth of the austenite during holding at 1173K (austenitization). As a result, the grain size of austenite in the Cu bearing steel becomes about one-third times smaller than that in the base steel after austenitization for 14.4ks. TEM observations in the Cu bearing steel revealed that Cu particles precipitated during aging treatment had completely dissolved in 1.2ks of austenitization. Therefore, the retardation of grain growth of austenite can not be explained by the grain boundary pinning effect of Cu particles but by the dragging effect of Cu atoms in the austenitic solid solution.

Effect of Structural Factors on the Mechanical Properties of High Nitrogen Austenitic Steels

Solute nitrogen in steels is substantially a strong austenite former and lowers Ms temperature markedly. This means that austenitie stainless steels can be obtained in Fe-Cr-N ternary alloy without adding expensive alloying elements like nickel. In this investigation, 12∼23%Cr ferritic stainless steels were selected in order to examine the influence of nitrogen and chromium content on austenite stability and on mechanical properties of Fe-Cr-N ternary alloys produced by nitrogen absorption treatment in solid state. The results obtained are as follows: (1)Nitrogen content of specimens can be controlled within the chemical composition range which gives austenite single phase at 1473K in the ternary alloys, The structures at room temperature are different depending on the chromium content: martensite or (martensite+austenite) below 20% Cr, metastable austenite between 20%Cr and 23%Cr, stable austenite above 23%Cr in case the steels are rapidly cooled from 1473K, because austenite partially undergoes an eutectoid transformation (decomposition from austenite to (ferrite+Cr 2 N)) during air cooling. (2)Metastable austenitie steels fracture in brittle mode due to the formation of lenticular martensite during deformation. (3)Stable austenitie steels with 23%Cr are strengthened to 0.7GPa in 0.2% proof stress by absorbing about 1% of nitrogen with excellent ductilities (40% in elongation). Such an excellent ductility is probably due to high work-hardening rate.

Influence of Chromium on the Hall-Petch Coefficient in Ferritic Steel

In ferritic stainless steels, the amount of Cr is moderately controlled to have good corrosion resistance in applied environment. However, it also affects the yield strength of ferritic stainless steels through solid solution strengthening and grain refinement strengthening. Until now, some researches have been performed using commercial stainless steels but the obtained results contain the effect of solute interstitials (C and N). In this paper, the influence of Cr on the above both strengthening mechanism was discussed by using interstitial free ferritic stainless steel in which carbon and nitrogen are completely fixed as Ti(C,N). A previous paper has reported that the addition of chromium gives different influences to the Hall-Petch coefficient depending on the amount of Cr. However, our research has reveals the fact that the change of Hall-Petch coefficient is not due to the effect of chromium but due to small amount of carbon which exists as an impurity in ferritic stainless steels. It was concluded that chromium itself does not give any influence to the Hall-Petch coefficient of ferritic iron.

Temperature Dependence of Austenite Nucleation Site on Reversion of Lath Martensite

The temperature dependence of austenite nucleation behavior within lath martensitic structure was investigated in an ultralow carbon 13%Cr-6%Ni martensitic stainless steel partially reversed at (austenite + ferrite) two phase region. The shape and nucleation site of the reversed austenite grains were varied depending on the reversion temperature; fine acicular austenite grains frequently formed along the lath boundaries at a temperature lower than 915 K, while the granular ones tended to nucleate mainly on the prior austenite grain boundaries at a higher temperature. In order to explain the temperature dependence of nucleation site transition, the difference in energetics of austenite nucleation between the lath boundary and the prior austenite grain boundary was discussed on the basis of the classical nucleation theory and FEM analysis. The calculation of the changes in interfacial energy and elastic strain for austenite nucleation suggested that the lath boundary acts as more preferential nucleation sites for austenite rather than the prior austenite grain boundary to reduce the increment of elastic strain when the reversion temperature is low.