Analysis of Orientation Relationships,Carbon Partitioning and Strengthening Mechanism of a Novel Ultrahigh Strength Steel

The orientation relationships,carbon partitioning and strengthening mechanism of a novel ultrahigh strength steel were analyzed in depth during the complex process of heat treatment.The experimental results reveal that the(011)α//()γ,[100]α//[011]γ orientation relationships can be drawn between martensite and retained austenite.The position and angle of martensite and retained austenite are shown more clearly from the stereographic projections.Moreover,the calculated results show that the carbon content near the austenite interface is the highest in the shorter carbon allocation time.With the further increase of time,its carbon content gradually decreases.Furthermore,a model of the relationship between yield strength and strengthening mechanism was established.It was proved that the main strengthening components contributing to the yield strength include Orowan strengthening,grain-size strengthening and dislocation hardening.The main strengthening mechanism of steel in this experiment is dislocation strengthening.

Cu Partitioning Behavior and Its Effect on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 0.12C-1.33Mn-0.55Cu Q&P Steel

Cu, as an austenitic stable element, is added to steel in order to suppress the adverse effects of high content of C and Mn on welding. Based on C partitioning, Cu and Mn partitioning can further improve the stability of retained austenite in the intercritical annealing process. A sample of low carbon steel containing Cu was treated by the intercritical annealing, then quenching process（I＆Q）. Subsequently, another sample was treated by the intercritical annealing, subsequent austenitizing, then quenching and partitioning process（I＆Q＆P）. The effects of element partitioning behavior in intercritical region on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the steel were studied. The results showed that after the I＆Q process ferrite and martensite could be obtained, with C, Cu and Mn enriched in the martensite. When intercritically heated at 800 ℃, Cu and Mn were partitioned from ferrite to austenite, which was enhanced gradually as the heating time was increased. This partitioning effect was the most obvious when the sample was heated at 800 ℃ for 40 min. At the early stage of α→γ transformation, the formation of γ was controlled by the partitioning of carbon, while at the later stage, it was mainly affected by the partitioning of Cu and Mn. After the I＆Q＆P process, the partitioning effect of Cu and Mn element could be retained. C was assembled in retained austenite during the quenching and partitioning process. The strength and elongation of I＆Q＆P steel was increased by 5 305 MPa% compared with that subjected to Q＆P process. The volume fraction of retained autensite was increased from 8.5% to 11.2%. Hence, the content of retained austenite could be improved significantly by Mn and Cu partitioning, which increased the elongation of steel.

Ecophysiological acclimatization to cyclic water stress in Eucalyptus

Drought is considered the main environmental factor limiting productivity in eucalyptus plantations in Brazil. However, recent studies have reported that exposure to water deficit conditions enables plants to respond to subsequent stresses. Thus, this study investigates the ecophysiological acclimatization of eucalyptus clones submitted to recurrent water deficit cycles. Eucalyptus seedlings were submitted to three recurrent water deficit cycles and anatomical, morphological and physiological changes were analyzed. The results were:(1) Eucalyptus seedlings responded to water deficits by directing carbohydrates to root and stem growth;(2) Size and number of stomata were reduced;(3) Stomatal conductance decreased which allowed the plants to reduce water losses through transpiration,increasing instantaneous water use efficiency;(4) The relationship between gas exchanges and available water contents allowed the seedlings to uptake the retained soil water athigher tensions;and,(5) Physiological recovery from subsequent water deficits became faster. As a result of these changes, the eucalyptus seedlings recovered from the same degree of water stress more rapidly.

Correlation of isothermal bainite transformation and austenite stability in quenching and partitioning steels

The possible decomposition of metastable austenite during the partitioning process in the high end quenching and partitioning （Q＆P） steels is somewhat neglected by most researchers. The effects of primary martensite and alloying elements including manganese, cobalt and aluminum on the isothermal decomposition of austenite during typical Q＆P process were studied by dilatometry. The transformation kinetics was studied systematically and resulting microstruc tures were discussed in details. The results suggested that the primary martensite decreased the incubation period of isothermal decomposition by accelerating the nucleation process owing to dislocations especially on phase and grain boundaries. This effect can be eliminated by a flash heating which recovered dislocations. Co addition significantly promoted the bainite transformation during partitioning while A1 and Mn suppressed the isothermal bainite transformation. The bainite transformation played an important role in carbon distribution during partitioning, and hence the amount and stability of austenite upon final quenching. The bainite transformation during partitioning is an important factor in optimizing the microstructure in Q＆P steels.

The OsNAC23-Tre6P-SnRK1 a feed-forward loop regulates sugar homeostasis and grain yield in rice

Tre6P(trehalose-6-phosphate)mediates sensing of carbon availability to maintain sugar homeostasis in plants,which underpins crop yield and resilience.However,how Tre6P responds to fluctuations in sugar levels and regulates the utilization of sugars for growth remains to be addressed.Here,we report that the sugar-inducible rice NAC transcription factor OsNAC23 directly represses the transcription of the Tre6P phosphatase gene TPP1 to simultaneously elevate Tre6P and repress trehalose levels,thus facilitating carbon partitioning from source to sink organs.Meanwhile,OsNAC23 and Tre6P suppress the transcription and enzyme activity of SnRK1a,a low-carbon sensor and antagonist of OsNAC23,to prevent the SnRK1a-mediated phosphorylation and degradation of OsNAC23.Thus,OsNAC23,Tre6P,and SnRK1a form a feed-forward loop to sense sugar and maintain sugar homeostasis by transporting sugars to sink organs.Importantly,plants over-expressing OsNAC23 exhibited an elevated photosynthetic rate,sugar transport,and sink organ size,which consistently increased rice yields by 13%–17%in three elite-variety backgrounds and two locations,suggesting that manipulation of OsNAC23 expression has great potential for rice improvement.Collectively,these findings enhance our understanding of Tre6P-mediated sugar signaling and homeostasis,and provide a new strategy for genetic improvement of rice and possibly also other crops.

An Introduction to Advanced Hot-Formed Steel for Automobile

A recently developed advanced hot-formed （AHF） steel for automobile is introduced and three physical metallurgy concepts based on which the AHF steel was designed are reviewed, they are dynamic carbon partitioning （DCP）, flash copper precipitation and bake toughening. AHF steel is an upgrade of the existing hot-formed steel especially suitable for making components with superior crashworthiness; it can be processed by regular hot stamping equipment and process. A kinetics model for DCP is expressed in detail, which can be used to calculate the volume fraction of retained austenite based on four materials and processing parameters. The flash copper precipitation used as an additional strengthening mechanism for AHF steel is also discussed and its ultrafast kinetics can be attributed to the enhancement of quenched-in vacancies on copper diffusion. Also, the bake toughening of AHF steel is addressed; the mechanism of which may be related to the elimination of the less stable block-like retained austenite.

A feasible route to produce 1.1 GPa ferritic-based low-Mn lightweight steels with ductility of 47%

High- and medium-Mn (H/M-Mn) base lightweight steels are a class of ultrastrong structural materials with high ductility compared to their low-Mn counterparts with low strength and poor ductility.However, producing these H/M-Mn materials requires the advanced or high-tech manufacturing techniques, which can unavoidably provoke labor and cost concerns. Herein, we have developed a facilestrategy that circumvents the strength–ductility trade-off in low-Mn ferritic lightweight steels, by employing low-temperature tempering-induced partitioning (LTP). This LTP treatment affords a typical Fe-2.8Mn-5.7Al-0.3C (wt.%) steel with a heterogeneous size-distribution of metastable austenite embeddedin a ferrite matrix for partitioning more carbon into smaller austenite grains than into the larger austenite ones. This size-dependent partitioning results in slip plane spacing modification and lattice strain,which act through dislocation engineering. We ascribe the simultaneous improvement in strength andtotal elongation to both the size-dependent dislocation movement in austenite grains and the controlleddeformation-induced martensitic transformation. The low-carbon-partitioned large austenite grains increase the strength and ductility as a consequence of the combined martensitic transformation andhigh dislocation density-induced hardening and by interface strengthening. Additionally, high-carbonpartitioned small austenite grains enhance the strength and ductility by planar dislocation glide (inthe low strain regime) and by cross-slipping and delayed martensitic transformation (in the high strainregime). The concept of size-dependent dislocation engineering may provide different pathways for developing a wide range of heterogeneous-structured low-Mn lightweight steels, suggesting that LTP maybe desirable for broad industrial applications at an economic cost.

Effect of Intercritical Annealing Time on the Microstructures and Tensile Properties of a High Strength TRIP Steel

A new Mn-Si-Al-Mo-Nb transformation-induced plasticity steel was annealed by intercritical annealing for different durations to investigate the partitioning of C element and the volume fraction change of the microstructural constituents. Direct experimental evidence confirms the partitioning of C elements in different phases during heat treatment by Electron probe microanalysis and X ray diffraction. The distribution of the precipitates was investigated as well. It was revealed that the microstructures and mechanical properties of the investigated steels were affected by the intercritical annealing time. According to the present experiment, the volume fraction of retained austenite and the product of tensile strength and total elongation of investigated steel decrease with increasing intercritical annealing time. It was observed that high tensile strength of 1,103 MPa, total elongation of 21.3%, and strength-ductility product of 23,493.9 MPa % could be successfully produced in this experimental steel at intercritical annealing temperature of 830 ℃, holding for 1 min, and isothermal bainite treatment of 440 ℃ for 5 min holding time.

Microstructural Evolution and Properties of a High Strength Steel with Different Direct Quenching Processes

A high strength low alloy steel with low carbon equivalent was selected for simulating online direct quench- ing and coiling （DQ-C） process. The influence of stop quenching temperature on mechanical properties and micro- structures was studied and compared with normal direct quenching and tempering （DQ-T） process. The study con- firmed that required mechanical properties were obtained for both the processes. Properties of the experimental steel with DQ-C process could reach the same level as that of DQ-T process in general. In the DQ-C process, strength de- creased with increase in stop quenching temperature. Martensite was obtained and experienced an aging process at stop quenching temperature below Mi. On fast cooling below Mi, martensite was partially transformed and carbon partitioning occurred during slow cooling. The reduction in solid solution carbon and increased amount of retained austenite led to lower strength compared with the DQ-T process. DQ-C process was more favorable for microalloy carbide precipitation. However, impact toughness under different cooling conditions was adequate because of low car- bon equivalent and refined microstructure.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of NANOBAIN Steel

The microstructure and mechanical properties of NANOBAIN steel treated at different isothermal temperatures were investigated by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）,transmission electron microscopy（TEM）,uniaxial tensile tests and X-ray diffraction（XRD）.It was found that bainitic ferrite（BF）plate was made of basic shear transformation units arranged in the same direction of subunits.The existence of defects,such as nanoscale twinning and dislocation,suggested that the growth of transformation units was controlled by the surrounding defect plane with dislocation,which was consistent with the moving direction of BF/austenite interface parallel to the twinning plane.The behavior of work hardening indicated that mechanical stability of microstructures obtained at 250 ℃ and 300 ℃ was much more stable than that obtained at 210℃.The evolution of carbon partitioning in retained austenite and bainitic ferrite also indicated that austenite was enriched in carbon at the initial stage step by step;after the formation of BF,the austenite did not seem to be greatly enriched in carbon and the carbon content showed a little decrease instead;subsequently,aphenomenon of little decarburization of supersaturated bainitic ferrite has also been found.

Effect of austenization temperature on the microstructure evolution of the medium manganese steel (0.2C-5Mn) during ART-annealing

Microstructure evolution during ART-annealing （austenite reverted transformation annealing） of 0.2C-5Mn steel processed by austenitation at different temperatures was examined by SEM, TEM and XRD. It was demonstrated that the initial mi- crostructures resulted from austenization at different temperatures strongly affect the microstructure evolution during followed ART-annealing, even the ultrafine grained ferrite/austenite duplex structure with about 30% austenite could be obtained af- ter long time ART-annealing in all cases. Austenization in the intercritical region （between Ad and At3） gave a duplex structure after quenching, which was nearly not affected by followed annealing process. However, high temperature austenization （above A^3） resulted in a full martensite structure after quenching, which gradually transformed into a ferrite/austenite duplex structure during the following anneal- ing process. Based on the analysis of austenite fraction and carbon concentrate, it was found that not only carbon partitioning but also manganese paxtitioning in the austenite affected the stability of austenite and even dominated the development of lamellar ferrite and austenite duplex structure during intercritical annealing with different times. At last an austenite lath nucleation and thickening model was pro- posed to describe the microstructure evolution of medium mangenese steel during ART-annealing.