Yoshikazu Todaka

Nanocrystalline Structure in Steels Produced by Various Severe Plastic Deformation Processes

The formation of nanocrystalline structure in steels by ball milling, shot peening and drilling were studied. In ball milling and shot peening, nanocrystalline layers form with sharp boundaries from deformed structure regions. Nanocrystalline layer showed extremely high hardness. By annealing, nanocrystalline layer showed substantially slow grain growth without recrystallization. The temperature of the specimen during deformation is low and deformation is done in ferrite state. In drilling, several μm thick nanocrystalline layers form at the top surface of a drill hole. Nanocrystalline layers showed high hardness and good thermal stability. The fresh martensite and retained austenite near a drill hole indicate that the temperature reached above Ac3 and nanocrystalline layers are produced in austenite condition. It is recognized that nanocrystalline layers produced in the processes studied in the present investigation has similar characteristics irrespective of the temperature it produced. It is proposed that deformation with a large strain gradient is an important condition to produce nanocrystalline structure.

Nanostructured Shape Memory Alloys for Biomedical Applications

Application of TiNi shape memory alloy in biomedical field is rapidly expanding. Some of the applications calls for non-conventional properties, which may require new methods of thermomechanical treatment and surface modification. In the present study, the effect of nanocrystallization/amorphization by various method of severe plastic deformation, such as, shot peening, cold rolling and high pressure torsion, was investigated on properties of TiNi shape memory alloys. Shot peening using iron based metallic glass media was found to be an effective method to obtain the amorphous surface. Surface amorphization improved the corrosion resistance. Nanocrystalline TiNi exhibited peculiar superelastic properties. Correlation between the microstructure and phase transformation in nanostructured TiNi was discussed.

Formation of Nanocrystalline Structure by Shot Peening

The effects of the shot peening (SP) condition and the initial hardness of specimens on the formation and thickness of nanocrystalline (NC) layer were investigated. The NC structure is found to be independent of the SP techniques, air blast, impeller and ultrasonic SP. In the SP condition, the increase in the kinetic energy per one shot is effective to increase the thickness of NC layer. It is also found that there is a certain critical initial hardness of specimens to produce the NC structure by SP. The NC structure forms when the specimen hardness is lower than the shot hardness.

Role of Strain Gradient and Dynamic Transformation on the Formation of Nanocrystalline Structure Produced by Severe Plastic Deformation

Formation of nanocrystalline structure by severe plastic deformation has studied extensively. Although ultra fine grained structure (grain size larger than 100 nm) had been obtained in many processes such as heavy cold rolling, equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) or accumulative roll bonding (ARB), the formation of nano grained structure (< 100 nm) is limited to processes such as ball milling, shot peening or drilling. In the present study, high pressure torsion (HPT) deformation and drilling were carried out to understand the conditions necessary to obtain nano grained structure in steels. The results of HPT experiments in pure Fe showed that HPT has superior ability of strengthening and grain refinement probably due to a strain gradient but the saturation of grain refinement occurs before reaching nano grained structure. Drilling experiments in high carbon martensitic steel revelaed that nano grained ferrite forms at the drilled hole surface only when the transformation from ferrite to austenite takes place during drilling. Considering various other processes by which nano grained ferrite was produced, it is proposed that heavy strains with large strain gradients together with dynamic transformation are necessary to reach nano grained ferrite structure.

Formation of Ultrafine Grained Structure in SUS 304 Stainless Steel Produced by High Pressure Torsion (HPT)

SUS 304 austenitic stainless steel was processed by HPT at room temperature with different rotation speed. It was found that the microstructure evolution and composed phases along the progress of HPT were sensitive to the strain rate (rotation speed). During deforming with the low strain rate, the deformation-induced dynamic phase transformation (DPT) from austenite (γ) to martensite (α’) occurred and the microstructure is characterized by elongated submicron α’ grains after 10 revolutions. While the euqiaxed nanocrystalline α’ grains were produced after HPT at the continuously alternative low and high strain rate. XRD analyses showed that multiple DPT of γ→α’→γ→α’ took place during HPT at the continuously alternative low and high rotation speed. Based on the experimental results, it was proposed that the euqiaxed ultrafine grained structure were produced by multiple DPT under the high strain and strain gradient.