The application of back-scattered electron imaging for characterization of pearlitic steels

The microstructures of pearlitic steel wire rods and steel wires are commonly characterized by secondary electron imaging (SEI)technique using scanning electron microscopy(SEM).In this work,a back-scattered electron imaging(BSEI)method is proposed to determine the microstructures of undeformed and deformed pearlitic steels with nanometer scale pearlite lamellae.The results indicate that BSEI technique can characterize the pearlite lamellas veritably and is effective in quantitative measurement of the mean size of pearlite interlamellar spacing.To some extent,BSEI method is more suitable than SEI technique for studying undeformed and not severely deformed pearlitic steels.

Fracture mode identification of low alloy steels and cast irons by electron back-scattered diffraction misorientation analysis

The fracture modes of low alloy steels and cast irons under tensile and fatigue conditions were identified by electron back-scattered diffraction（EBSD） misorientation analysis in this research. The curves of grain reference orientation deviation（GROD） distribution perpendicular to the fracture surface were obtained by EBSD observation, and the characteristics of each fracture mode were identified. The GROD value of the specimen fractured in tension decreases to a constant related to the elongation of corresponding specimen in the far field（farther than 5 mm away from the fracture surface）. The peak exhibits in GROD curves of two smooth specimens and a notched specimen near the fracture surface（within 5 mm away from the fracture surface）, and the formation mechanisms were discussed in detail based on the influences of specimen geometries（smooth or notched） and material toughness. The GROD value of fatigue fractured specimen is close to that at undeformed condition in the whole field, except the small area near the crack path. The loading conditions（constant stress amplitude loading or constant stress intensity factor range K loading） and the EBSD striation formation during fatigue crack propagation were also studied by EBSD observation parallel to the crack path.

Origin of nucleation and growth of extension twins in grains unsuitably oriented for twinning during deformation of Mg-1%Al

A large number of anomalous extension twins,with low or even negative twinning Schmid factors,were found to nucleate and grow in a strongly textured Mg-1Al alloy during tensile deformation along the extruded direction.The deformation mechanisms responsible for this behaviour were investigated through in-situ electron back-scattered diffraction,grain reference orientation deviation,and slip trace-modified lattice rotation.It was found that anomalous extension twins nucleated mainly at the onset of plastic deformation at or near grain boundary triple junctions.They were associated with the severe strain incompatibility between neighbour grains as a result from the differentbasal slip-induced lattice rotations.Moreover,the anomalous twins were able to grow with the applied strain due to the continuous activation ofbasal slip in different neighbour grains,which enhanced the strain incompatibility.These results reveal the complexity of the deformation mechanisms in Mg alloys at the local level when deformed along hard orientations.

Back-scattering from rough sea surface with foams

By using iterative method to solve the vector radiative transfer equation of discrete scatterers with randomly rough under-boundary, the back-scattering coefficient is derived, and is applied to the two-scale model of sea surface with foam scatterers driven by strong wind. By employing the modified probability density function of Cox and Munk's, and Pierson's sea spectrum, numerical results of polarized back-scatter ing are calculated. The functional dependence on wind speed and direction, observation angle, polarization and other parameters are discussed, and theoretical results are favorably matched with experimental data.

Numerical Simulation on the Extraction of Modal Back-Scattering Matrix from Reverberation Data for High Frequency Cases

The modal back-scattering matrix can be extracted from reverberation data. For high frequency cases the ’window smoothed’ processing has been proposed by E. C. Shang, T. F. Gao and D. J. Tang (2002) to extract the ’window averaged’ back-scattering matrix. It is pointed out in this paper that in order to inverse the ’window averaged’ back-scattering matrix by changing the source depth data we have to assume that the matrix is not related to the source depth, and the numerical simulation on the question has been conducted.

The deposition of asphaltenes under high-temperature and highpressure (HTHP) conditions

In this work,the factors affecting asphaltenes deposition in high-temperature and high-pressure wells were studied using backscattered light and PVT equipment customized to suit the well conditions.In an examination of the intensity of backscattered light,it was revealed that there exists a linear relationship between temperature and asphaltene precipitation within a specific temperature range.Within this range,a decrease in temperature tends to accelerate asphaltene precipitation.However,the impacts of pressure and gas-oil ratio are more pronounced.The pressure depletion induces the asphaltenes to precipitate out of the solution,followed by the formation of flocs below the bubble point.In addition,an increase in the gas-oil ratio causes a more severe asphaltene deposition,shifting the location of asphaltenes to deep well sections.

Superplastic forming characteristics of AZ41 magnesium alloy

An AZ41 magnesium alloy in the hot-rolled condition without further thermomechanical processing to modify its microstructure was investigated to establish its suitability for use within a superplastic forming process and to establish optimum forming parameters.Formability was assessed using elevated temperature tensile testing and hot gas bulging,across a range of strain rates(1×10^(−1)−1×10^(−3)s^(−1))and temperatures(350−450℃).Circle grid analysis with GOM Aramis cameras was used to understand peak strains and material thinning in relation to industrial forming processes.Post forming EBSD and STEM analysis was conducted to understand the mechanisms responsible for the materials formability,with dynamic recrystallization being clearly evident.Peak elongation of 520%was achieved at 450℃ and 1×10^(−3)s^(−1);industrially relevant elongation was achieved at 1×10^(−2) s^(−1) at both 450℃(195%)and 400℃(170%).

Quantitative analysis on strengthening mechanism of ultra-thin hot strip of low carbon steel produced by CSP technique

Based on experimental data of positron annihilation technology, electrolyticdissolution technique, electron back-scattered pattern, etc. and by analysis the strengtheningfactors, the strengthening mechanism of ultra-thin hot strip of low carbon steel produced by CSP(Compact Strip Production) technique was investigated. The value of each strengthening mechanism andits contribution percentage to yield strength were achieved. The results show that refinementstrengthening is the predominant strengthening mode; precipitation strengthening and dislocationstrengthening are second to it, their contributions to yield strength are almost equal.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of automobile beam steels produced by EAF-CSP process

The microstructure, mechanical properties, and misorientation of automobile beam steels produced by EAF-CSP process were studied using optical microscopy （OM） and electron back-scattered diffraction （EBSD）. It is shown that the microstructure of strips is mainly polygonal ferrite, and the average grain size is about 5-8 μm. The electron back-scattered diffraction results show that grain boundaries in ferrite are basically high-angle grain boundaries without remarkable preferred orientation. Hot strips of automobile beam steels possess a good combination of strength and plasticity because of their fine microstructures and low quantity of impurities.

Grain Refinement Mechanism and Texture Evolution of Polycrystalline Cu Sheets during the Electromagnetic Forming Process

The grain refinement mechanism and texture evolution of electromagnetically formed polycrystalline Cu sheets were investigated using the electron back-scattered diffraction(EBSD) technique. It is found that the average grain size decreases from 35.88 μm to 8.77 μm. The grain refinement was mainly attributed to dynamic recrystallization(DRX) at the grain boundary regions of bulged Cu samples where the inhomogeneous dislocation density and the large lattice misorientation were observed. The DRX mechanisms at the grain boundaries were discussed with respect to the strain-induced grain boundary migration nucleation. Moreover, the orientation distribution function(ODF) of the sample with the strain of 50% demonstrated a strong {110}<211> texture and a relatively weak {001}<100> texture. The texture evolution was discussed using the plastic work values of the grains with various orientations, which were calculated according to the Taylor model and the virtual work principle. The experimental results show that the expended plastic work of the grains with {110} orientation is 9.69 MPa, which is distinctly higher than those of the grains with the {001} and {111} orientations. This indicates that the formation of the {110} orientated texture would be preferred with increasing strain in good agreement with the experimental result.

Microstructure of AISI 304 stainless steel strips produced by a twin-roll caster

By optical inspection of macro-etched metallography and electron back-scattered diffraction （EBSD） mapping, this paper analyzed the microstructure of austenitic stainless steel strips produced with an equal-diameter twin-roll strip caster. The results indicate that the microstructure of the strips includes two columnar zones with highly compact dendrites and one equiaxed zone. The characteristics, such as grain size and growing direction of columnar grains and equiaxed grains, were investigated. An additional transitional area with many finer grains between the columnar zone and the equiaxed zone was found. As shown in EBSD analysis, small angle boundaries exist both in the columnar zone and the equiaxed zone, although they are especially more in the transitional area. Additionally, some 〈111〉 twin boundaries were found in the microstructure of the strips.

Effect of Scattering on the Transmission of Si Nanorod Arrays

The effect of scattering on the transmission of subwavelength Si nanorod arrays is investigated. It is found that the distance between the nanorods has important effect on the transmission because the scattered light varies largely with it. When the nanorods are close to each other, the back-scattered light and the light reflected by the surface of substrates interfere destructively and lead to a high transmission. When the distance of the nanorods increases, the intensity of the scattered light decrease and this makes the transmission decrease. The reflection and the transmission of the nanorod arrays can be adjusted by changing the distance between the neighbouring nanorods.

Scattering of elastic wave by a cylindrical shell deeply embeded in saturated soils

The compression of soil grain and pore fluid as well as viscid coupling of pore fluid and soil skeleton is considered, the scattering problem of incident plane P1 wave （fast compressional wave） by an infinite cylindrical shell deeply embedded in isotropic saturated soils is studied by adopting the amended Biot model, amplitude equations about potential functions of scattering and refracting fields are obtained, and the effect of dimensionless frequencies and shell thickness on the back-scattering spectra and dynamic stress concentration factors of two types of cylindrical shells with high and low rigidity are numerically computed and analyzed.

EBSD Investigation on Oriented Nucleation in IF Steels

The mechanism responsible for the formation of recrystallization texture in cold-rolled Ti bearing interstitial free （IF） steel sheets was investigated using electron back-scatter diffraction （EBSD）. In addition, the origin of nuclei with specific orientations was studied. The formation of recrystallization texture was explained by oriented nucleation. Most nuclei have a high misorientation angle of 25-55° with the surrounding deformed matrices, but no specific orientation of misorientation axis between the nucleus and the surrounding deformed matrix is observed. The stored energy of deformed grains is in the decreasing order of the {111}〈112〉,{111}〈110〉, {112}〈110〉 and {001}〈110〉 orientations. New {111}〈110〉 grains are nucleated within deformed {111}〈112〉 grains and new {111}〈112〉 grains originate in the deformed {111}〈110〉 grains.

The influence of a self-focused laser beam on the stimulated Raman scattering process in collisional plasma

The influence of a self-focused beam on the stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)process in collisional plasma is explored.Here,collisional nonlinearity arises as a result of non-uniform heating,thereby causing carrier redistribution.The plasma density profile gets modified in a perpendicular direction to the main beam axis.This modified plasma density profile greatly affects the pump wave,electron plasma wave(EPW)and back-scattered wave.The well-known paraxial theory and Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation are used to derive second-order ordinary differential equations for the beam waists of the pump wave,EPW and the scattered wave.Further to this,the well-known fourth-order Runge-Kutta method is used to carry out numerical simulations of these equations.SRS back-reflectivity is found to increase due to the focusing of several waves involved in the process.

Tailoring the Texture and Mechanical Anisotropy of Multi-cross Rolled Mg-Zn-Gd Alloy by Annealing

The unidirectional rolled Mg-Zn-Gd sheet usually exhibited non-basal texture with two peaks whose tilting angle were about 42°from normal direction to transverse direction(TD),which would cause the mechanical anisotropy.In this study,multi-cross rolling followed by annealing was used to tailor the texture and mechanical anisotropy for Mg-Zn-Gd alloy.With increasing annealing temperature,the rolled basal texture with two peaks gradually transformed into the circle texture with multi-peaks.In order to figure out different texture components evolution during annealing,the basal texture,R-texture and T-texture component were defined and studied.The results showed that the change of R-texture and T-texture component was asynchronous with increasing annealing temperature from 250 to 400℃.The tilting angle of R-texture component increased slightly,while the tilting angle of T-texture component increased obviously,and this phenomenon was attributed to the preferential nucleation at grain nucleation stage rather than preferential grain growth.The yield strength along TD was more sensitive to annealing temperature compared with that along rolling direction(RD),resulting in different descending slopes and yield strength anisotropy with increasing annealing temperature.Annealing at 300℃was the best annealing temperature due to low yield strength anisotropy,moderate strength and good elongation among these annealing temperatures.The Schmid factor for basal slip indicated that the activity of basal slip along RD increased slightly,while that along TD increased obviously with increasing annealing temperature from 250 to 400℃,which should be caused by the asynchronous change of R-texture component and T-texture component,consequently resulting in the transformation from isotropic yield strength to anisotropic yield strength.

Precise determination of the α → α+β phase transformation temperature of Zr-1.0Sn-0.3Nb-0.3Fe alloy

In this investigation,differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and metallographic experiments were performed to study α→α +β phase transformation temperature in a Zr-1.0Sn-0.3Nb-0.3Fe alloy.The deconvolution and extrapolation methods to determine the α→α+β phase transformation temperature in DSC experiment were appropriate for the Zr alloy.Moreover,precise determination of α→α+β phase transformation temperature was carried out by back-scattered electron imaging(BSEI) and electron back-scattered diffraction(EBSD) characterization techniques.The α→α+β phase transformation temperature of the Zr-1.0Sn-0.3Nb-0.3 Fe alloy was determined to be 765-770°C.

Dwell and Normal Cyclic Fatigue Behaviours of Ti60 Alloy

An experimental study of dwell and normal cyclic fatigue behaviours was carried out using specimens from a Ti60 forging with a bimodal microstructure. Apparent decrease in the fatigue life was found under dwell fatigue condition as compared to that under normal cyclic condition. Strain produced in each cycle in dwell fatigued specimens was observed larger than that in its normal cyclic-fatigued counterparts. Interior crack initiation was found in most dwell fatigued specimens as compared to the subsurface crack initiation under normal cyclic fatigue condition. Flat and bright facets were found at crack initiation sites in both cases. The facet density is higher in dwell condition, which is consistent with the crystal orientation and Schmid factors analysis of α grains around secondary cracks using electron back-scattered diffraction （EBSD） methods. Dwell loading favours cleavage in α grains with their basal plane normals aligned no more than 15° to the loading axis, which may account for its lower fatigue life according to the present study.

{411}<148> Texture in Thin-Gauge Grain-Oriented Silicon Steel

The significant occupancy of {411}〈148〉texture exists in the thin-gauge grain-oriented silicon steel(TGCRGO is defined that thickness of the sheet is〈0.25 mm and the reduction in cold rolling is more than 90%) which has been considered to have obviously effects on the abnormal growth of Goss-oriented grains during the secondary recrystallization process. The microstructures of the TG-CRGO were investigated by X-ray diffraction and electron back-scattered diffraction in this study. It was found that {411}〈148〉〉texture mainly exists in the center layer of hot-rolled as well as normalized plates.With the increase in cold rolling reduction, {411}〈148〉 orientation gradually rotates to a-fiber texture(〈110〉//RD).Finally, few {411}〈148〉would retain at the boundaries of deformed a-fiber grains(〈110〉//RD) as the reduction in cold rolling reaches 90%. After annealing treatment, a small amount of c-fiber textures(〈111〉//ND) preferably nucleates and recrystallizes between the DBs(deformation bands) at first; then, the {411}〈148〉 recrystallization texture occurs and mainly nucleates at the grains boundaries of the deformed a-fiber grains, and also quite a few {411}〈148〉orientation grains nucleate in the inner of {112}〈110〉grains. But this phenomenon was not observed in the {100}〈011〉deformation grains.With respect to the occurrence of {411}〈148〉recrystallization texture, it is mainly induced by strong a-fiber as well as weak c-fiber textures formed during cold rolling other than originating from {411}〈148〉 regions in hot bands.

Formation of face-centered cubic titanium in laser surface re-melted commercially pure titanium plate

Micron-scale face-centered cubic titanium phase（named as δ phase） were noticed in the re-melted zone of laser surface re-melted commercially pure titanium plate.The morphology,sub-structure,orientation and distribution of δ phase were investigated by scanning electron microscopy,electron back-scattered diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.Three kind formation processes of δ phase were put forward based on the investigation.The first one is α＇→δ transformation which takes place in single α＇grains and leads to the orientation relationship {001}δ//{0001}α＇〈 110 〉 δ//〈 112^-0 〉α＇.The second one is β→α＇＋ δ transformation which takes place at α＇/α＇interfaces and leads to the orientation relationship{001}δ//{11^-0}β〈110〉 δ//〈111〉β.The third one is another kind of β→α＇＋ δ transformation that takes place at α＇/α＇interfaces and leads to the orientation relationship{11^-1}δ//{11^-0}β〈 110 〉 δ//〈 111 〈 β.It is believed that the transformations of δ phase are stress assistant ones and in the present investigation,the phase transformation stress of β→α＇transformation acts as the assistant driving force for the formation of δ phase.