Origin and the Hardening Mechanism of Twinned Lenticular Martensite in a Fe-33Ni Alloy

The twinned substructure of lenticular martensite in a quenched Fe–33Ni alloy was studied.In contrary to the traditional viewpoint that the twinned laths come from{112}<111>deformation twins and show insignificant hardening,we demonstrate that they are actually originated from the twinned Kurdjumov Sachs(KS)variants and can give rise to 3–4 times hardening up to~420 HV(~130 HV for the starting sample).The underlying mechanisms responsible for the propensity for twinned variants and the carbon-independent hardening for Fe–Ni system were discussed.

Influence of impact energy on work hardening ability of austenitic manganese steel and its mechanism

To further understand the hardening mechanism of austenitic manganese steel under actual working conditions, the work hardening ability was studied and the microstructures of austenitic manganese steel were observed under different impact energies. The work hardening mechanism was also analyzed. The results show that the best strain hardening effect could be received only when the impact energy reaches or exceeds the critical impact energy. The microstructural observations reveal that dislocations, stacking faults and twins increase with raising impact energy of the tested specimens. The hardening mechanism changes at different hardening degrees. It is mainly dislocation and slip hardening below the critical impact energy, but it changes to the twinning hardening mechanism when the impact energy is above the critical impact energy.

MICROSTRUCTURE EVOLUTION AND MECHANICAL HARDENING OF HYPEREUTECTOID PEARLITIC STEEL DURING COLD ROLLING

The microstructure evolution of different cold rolling reductions （from 0 to 81.6%） was studied by SEM （scanning electron microscopy） and TEM （transmission electron microscope）. The study showed that the orientation multiplicity of pearlitic lamellas resulted in inhomogeneous deformation of different pearlitic lamellas, and with the increase of reduction, the microstructure underwent a course of ＂homogeneity → inhomogeneity → homogeneity＂. The result of XRD （X-ray diffraction） analysis indicated that cementite did not decompose and dissolve into ferrite; the results of the mechanical property test suggested that the relationship between Rp0.2 （yield strength） and ε （true strain） was in good agreement with Hollomon relationship. With the equation Rp0.2 = 1465ε^0.18, the yield strength of the steel in different reductions could be well predicted.

Study on improving properties of welded joints of 400 MPa ultra fine grained steel by mechanical surface hardening

The welded joints of 400 MPa ultra fine grained steel in manual arc welding were treated by mechanical surface hardening. Microstructure and mechanical properties of the treated joints were compared with those of the untreated joints, based on which, primary study on the process and principle of mechanical surface hardening was carried out. The results shows that： Grain size of HAZ increases greatly and mechanical properties of welded joint decrease obviously compared with those of base martial, but grain size in the surface layer of HAZ can be refined （the grain size is about 100 nm or so） and mechanical properties of welded joints can be improved greatly by mechanical surface hardening.

Microstructures, hardening and tribological behaviors of tin matrix composites reinforced with SiC and Zn particles

In order to strengthen pure tin and improve its dry sliding resistance, Sn/SiC and Sn/Zn composites were fabricated via a powder metallurgy route. Microstructure,hardness and pin-on-disk wear resistance of pure tin and the fabricated composites were compared to those of Sn–7.5 Sb–3.5 Cu Babbitt alloy. The dominant wear mechanism at different applied loads was determined by analyzing worn surfaces and wear debris in each case. The results showed that the hardening effect of Zn was much higher than that of SiC. The hardening role of Zn in the tin matrix was ascribed to the direct load transfer mechanism. Microscopic studies of the worn surfaces revealed that the pure tin was susceptible to surface fatigue wear and plowing damage, depending on the normal load applied during the wear test. In the case of Sn/SiC composite and the Babbitt alloy, delamination wear mechanism resulting from subsurface crack propagation controlled the wear rate. While the highest hardness and the lowest coefficient of friction were obtained for the Babbitt alloy, the Sn/Zn composite exhibited the highest wear resistance at a constant applied load, indicating the importance of asperity contact type in the wear process.

Effect of tempering temperature on strain hardening exponent and flow stress curve of 1000MPa grade steel for construction machinery

To study the effect of tempering temperature on strain hardening exponent and flow stress curve,one kind of 1000 MPa grade low carbon bainitic steel for construction machinery was designed,and the standard uniaxial tensile tests were conducted at room temperature.A new flow stress model,which could predict the flow behavior of the tested steels at different tempering temperatures more efficiently,was established.The relationship between mobile dislocation density and strain hardening exponent was discussed based on the dislocation-stress relation.Arrhenius equation and an inverse proportional function were adopted to describe the mobile dislocation,and two mathematical models were established to describe the relationship between tempering temperature and strain hardening exponent.Nonlinear regression analysis was applied to the Arrhenius type model,hence,the activation energy was determined to be 37.6kJ/mol.Moreover,the square of correlation coefficient was 0.985,which indicated a high reliability between the fitted curve and experimental data.By comparison with the Arrhenius type curve,the general trend of the inverse proportional fitting curve was coincided with the experimental data points except of some fitting errors.Thus,the Arrhenius type model can be adopted to predict the strain hardening exponent at different tempering temperatures.

Strain Hardening Associated with Dislocation,Deformation Twinning,and Dynamic Strain Aging in Fe–20Mn–1.3C–(3Cu) TWIP Steels

The effects of Cu on stacking fault energy,dislocation slip,mechanical twinning,and strain hardening in Fe–20Mn–1.3C twinning-induced plasticity（TWIP） steels were systematically investigated.The stacking fault energy was raised with an average slope of 2 mJ/m2 per 1 wt% Cu.The Fe–20Mn–1.3C–3Cu steel exhibited superior tensile properties,with the ultimate tensile strength reached at 2.27 GPa and elongation up to 96.9% owing to the high strain hardening that occurred.To examine the mechanism of this high strain hardening,dislocation density determination by XRD was calculated.The dislocation density increased with the increasing strain,and the addition of Cu resulted in a decrease in the dislocation density.A comparison of the strain-hardening behavior of Fe–20Mn–1.3C and Fe–20Mn–1.3C–3Cu TWIP steels was made in terms of modified Crussard–Jaoul（C–J） analysis and microstructural observations.Especially at low strains,the contributions of all the relevant deformation mechanisms—slip,twinning,and dynamic strain aging—were quantitatively evaluated.The analysis revealed that the dislocation storage was the leading factor to the increase of the strain hardening,while dynamic strain aging was a minor contributor to strain hardening.Twinning,which interacted with the matrix,acted as an effective barrier to dislocation motion.

Microstructure and Strain Hardening of a Friction Stir Welded High-Strength Al–Zn–Mg Alloy

Microstructural evolution and strain hardening behavior of a friction stir welded（FSWed） high-strength7075Al-T651 alloy were evaluated.The nugget zone was observed to consist of fine and equiaxed recrystallized grains with a low dislocation density and free of original precipitates,but containing uniformly distributed dispersoids.The strength,joint efficiency,and ductility of the FSWed joints increased with increasing welding speed.A joint efficiency of ＊91% was achieved at a welding speed of 400 mm/min and rotational rate of 800 r/min,while the ductility remained basically the same as that of the base metal.There was no obvious strain rate sensitivity observed in both base metal and welded joints.While both the base metal and FSWed joints exhibited stage III and IV hardening characteristics,the hardening capacity,strain hardening exponent,and strain hardening rate all increased after friction stir welding.

Tensile behavior and deformation mechanism of quenching and partitioning treated steels at different deforming temperatures

The effects of deforming temperatures on the tensile behaviors of quenching and partitioning treated steels were investigated. It was found that the ultimate tensile strength of the steel decreased with the increasing temperature from 25 to 100 ℃, reached the maximum value at 300 ℃, and then declined by a significant extent when the temperature further reached 400 ℃. The total elongations at 100, 200 and 300 ℃are at about the same level. The steel achieved optimal mechanical properties at 300 ℃due to the proper transformation behavior of retained austenite since the stability of retained austenite is largely dependent on the deforming temperature. When tested at 100 and 200 ℃, the retained aus tenite was reluctant to transform, while at the other temperatures, about 10 vol. % of retained aus- tenite transformed during the tensile tests. The relationship between the stability of retained austenite and the work hardening behavior of quenching and partitioning treated steels at different deforming temperatures was also studied and discussed in detail. In order to obtain excellent mechanical properties, the stability of retained austenite should be carefully controlled so that the effect of transforma tion-induced plasticity could take place continuously during plastic deformation.

Discovery of aluminum alloys with ultra-strength and high-toughness via a property-oriented design strategy

Aluminum alloys with ultra-strength and high-toughness are fundamental structural materials applied in the aerospace industry.Due to the intrinsic restriction between strength and toughness,optimizing a desirable combination of these conflicting properties is always challenging in material development.In this study,171 sets of data were curated based on the characteristics of high-strength and high-toughness aluminum alloys in the literature.Then,a machine learning design system(MLDS)with a property-oriented design strategy was established to rapidly discover novel aluminum alloys with ductility and toughness indexes(with elongationδ=8%–10%and fracture toughness K_(IC)=33–35 MPa·m^(1/2))comparable to those of current state-of-the-art AA7136 aluminum alloys when the ultimate tensile strength(UTS)exceeded approximately 100 MPa,with values reaching 700–750 MPa.With the MLDS for experimental verification,three typical candidate alloys show satisfactory performance with UTS of 707–736 MPa,δof 7.8%–9.5%,and K_(IC)of 32.2–33.9 MPa·m^(1/2).The high contents of Mg and Zn alloying elements in the novel alloys form abundantη'phases,which produce a significant hardening effect,while the reasonable matching of Cr,Mn,Ti and Zr dispersoids refines the grain size.The decreased Cu content compared with that in the AA7136 alloy inhibits the formation of theσphase and S phase,so that the alloys show high toughness.

Towards ultrastrong and ductile medium-entropy alloy through dual-phase ultrafine-grained architecture

Advanced materials with superior comprehensive mechanical properties are strongly desired,but it has long been a challenge to achieve high ductility in high-strength materials.Here,we proposed a new V 0.5 Cr 0.5 CoNi medium-entropy alloy(MEA)with a face-centered cubic/hexagonal close-packed(FCC/HCP)dual-phase ultrafine-grained(UFG)architecture containing stacking faults(SFs)and local chemical order(LCO)in HCP solid solution,to obtain an ultrahigh yield strength of 1476 MPa and uniform elongation of 13.2%at ambient temperature.The ultrahigh yield strength originates mainly from fine grain strength-ening of the UFG FCC matrix and HCP second-phase strengthening assisted by the SFs and LCO inside,whereas the large ductility correlates to the superior ability of the UFG FCC matrix to storage disloca-tions and the function of deformation-induced SFs in the vicinity of the FCC/HCP boundary to eliminate the stress concentration.This work provides new guidance by engineering novel composition and stable UFG structure for upgrading the mechanical properties of metallic materials.

Effect of Extrusion Temperature on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Mg–5Al–2Ca Alloy

In this work, the Mg–5Al–2Ca alloy was extruded at 573, 623 and 673 K, with a ratio of 16：1 and a constant speed of 3 mm/s. Results demonstrate that the Al2Ca particle is formed in Mg–5Al–2Ca alloy. The size, amount and distribution of Al2Ca particles are influenced evidently by extrusion temperature. Unlike previous reports, the intensity of basal texture increases with increasing extrusion temperature, and the reasons are analyzed and given. Even though the average grain size increases as the extrusion temperature increased from 573 to 623 K, the YS, UTS and elongation of asextruded Mg–5Al–2Ca alloy are almost kept the same at 573 and 623 K. The reason is speculated as the balance of grain size, Al2Ca phase and texture at the two temperatures. The work hardening rate depends on extrusion temperature, and the largest θ value of Mg–5Al–2Ca alloy is obtained when the extrusion was performed at 623 K.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Spray-Formed Superalloy

The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of a spray-formed superalloy were studied in this paper. Based on a better understanding of the microstructural evolution of the spray-formed superalloy during solution treatment, an optimum solution treatment process was obtained, namely, at 1,140 °C for 6 h, and air cooling（AC）. The effects of the ageing treatments on the mechanical properties of the post-solution-treated spray-formed superalloy were evaluated using ageing harden curves and tensile testing. The results indicated that the maximum hardness value was achieved at 850 °C for 8 h, AC. Due to co-precipitation of primary and secondary c0 precipitates during the heat treatment,the spray-formed superalloy obtained an excellent combination of yield strength（YS = 1,110 MPa）, ultimate tensile strength（UTS = 1,503 MPa）, ductility（elongation, EL = 21%） and excellent stress rupture properties at 650 °C（UTS = 1,209 MPa, EL = 15.8%）. The heat treatment also improved the rupture life at 650 °C/950 MPa and 750 °C/539 MPa up to 140 h without rupturing. The tensile-fractured surfaces exhibit ductile transgranular failure feature. The optimum heat treatment process was determined to be 1,140 °C/6 h＋850 °C/8 h＋AC.