Cold-rolling technologies of advanced high strength steels in Ansteel

Low - carbon becomes a high - frequency and fashionable word which gets the greatest concern in the world.Low - carbon refers to a minimal output of greenhouse gas emissions into the biosphere, specifically refers to the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.To reduce energy consumption of automobile,more and more high strength steels are used by vehicle companies.To meet the request of vehicle companies, various high strength steels are developed in steel companies all over the world.Ansteel can provide,ultra-low carbon bake hardening(BH) steels,dual phase(DP) steels and transformation - induced plasticity (TRIP) steels with the grades of under 780 MPa,up to now.AHSS steels have much different composition, microstructure and strenght than conventional vehicle steels,so there are some trouble in producing in cold rolling mills,for example,difficult to join,poor thickness and flatness,accurate temperature and velocity control and so on.To reduce the opportunity of strip breakage,we have done many welding experiments and special research.Now,DP and TRIP steels can be continuously produced in Ansteel.To assure thickness and flatness of strips,we optimized the hot rolling parameter to get low deformation resistance,optimized rolling oil to get fit frictional coefficient and fix on the targat rolling curve.To get more accurate and repetitive results over the production shifts,the Mathematical Model(MM) is used in Ansteel.The MM analyses information transmitted by various sensors and transmitters,compares the collected data with the chosen parameters and adjusts the settings of the various pieces of equipment to hone on the parameter setpoints.At present,the key production technologies of AHSS were grasped by cold rolling mill Ansteel,and Ansteel is the first company to apply the TRIP with the grade of 780 MPa.

Development of a hot-rolled 980 MPa advanced high-strength steel with excellent flangeability and bendability

A new 980 MPa advanced high-strength steel(AHSS) with excellent bendability and flangeability has been studied and industrially produced, typical of tensile strength, fractured elongation, and hole expansion ratio(HER) exceeding 980 MPa, 10%,and 30%,respectively.The 90° V-type bending perpendicular to the rolling direction can satisfy the R/t=1.0 requirement, indicating excellent bendability.Systematic evaluations of industrial trial-produced 980 MPa hot-rolled AHSS have been conducted, including microstructure, tensile properties in three directions, HER,bendability, fatigue limit strength, and forming limit.The microstructure of the newly developed 980 MPa AHSS primarily consists of fine bainite and a small amount of martensite-austenite constituent.The practical yield and tensile strength are higher than 800 and 980 MPa, respectively, with typical elongation of 13% and HER of around 40%.The good combination of the newly developed 980 MPa AHSS is primarily attributed to the fine bainitic microstructure, resulting in excellent flangeability and bendability.In addition, the newly developed 980 MPa AHSS has good fatigue and forming properties, making it suitable for the production of chassis and suspension components.

Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Hot-Dip Galvanized DP Steels

In order to simulate the hot-dipped galvanizing of dual-phase （DP） steel （wt%） 0.15C-0.1Si-1.7Mn, the DP steels were obtained by different annealing schedules. The effects of soaking temperature, time, and cooling rate on ferrite grain, volume fraction of martensite, and the fine structure of martensite were studied. Results showed that the yield strength （YS） of DP steel is sensitive to annealing schedule, while total elongation has no noticeable dependence on annealing schedule. Increasing soaking temperature from 790 to 850 ℃, the YS is the lowest at soaking temperature of 850 ℃. Changing CR1 from 6 to 24 ℃/s, the YS is the highest when CR1 is 12 ℃/s. Increasing soaking time from 30 to 100 s, the YS is the lowest at soaking time of 100 s. Besides, it was found that sufficient movable dislocations within ferrite grains and high martensite volume fraction can eliminate yield point elongation, decrease the YS, and increase ultimate tensile strength. Through TEM observations, it was also found that increasing annealing temperature promotes austenite transformation into twin martensite, and increases volume fraction of martensite at sufficient cooling rate. With increasing the martensite volume fraction, the deformation substructure in the ferrite is well developed.

Current Challenges and Opportunities Toward Understanding Hydrogen Embrittlement Mechanisms in Advanced High-Strength Steels: A Review

Hydrogen embrittlement(HE)is one of the most dangerous yet most elusive embrittlement problems in metallic materials.Advanced high-strength steels(AHSS)are particularly prone to HE,as evidenced by the serious degradation of their load-bearing capacity with the presence of typically only a few parts-per-million H.This strongly impedes their further development and application and could set an abrupt halt for the weight reduction strategies pursued globally in the automotive industry.It is thus important to understand the HE mechanisms in this material class,in order to develop effective H-resistant strategies.Here,we review the related research in this field,with the purpose to highlight the recent progress,and more importantly,the current challenges toward understanding the fundamental HE mechanisms in modern AHSS.The review starts with a brief introduction of current HE models,followed by an overview of the state-of-the-art micromechanical testing techniques dedicated for HE study.Finally,the reported HE phenomena in different types of AHSS are critically reviewed.Focuses are particularly placed on two representative multiphase steels,i.e.,ferrite–martensite dual-phase steels and ferrite–austenite medium-Mn steels,with the aim to highlight the multiple dimensions of complexity of HE mechanisms in complex AHSS.Based on this,open scientific questions and the critical challenges in this field are discussed to guide future research efforts.

A review of friction stir welding of steels： Tool, material flow, microstructure, and properties

Considerable progress has been achieved in friction stir welding （FSW） of steels in every aspect of tool fab- rication, microstructure control and properties evaluation in the past two decades. With the development of reliable welding tools and precise control systems, FSW of steels has reached a new level of technical maturity. High-quality, long welds can be produced in many engineering steels. Compared to traditional fusion welding, FSW exhibits unique advantages producing joints with better properties. As a result of active control of the welding temperature and/or cooling rate, FSW has the capability of fabricating steel joints with excellent toughness and strength. For example, unfavorable phase transformations that usu- ally occur during traditional welding can be avoided and favorable phase fractions in advanced steels can be maintained in the weld zone thus avoiding the typical property degradations associated with fusion welding. If phase transformations do occur during FSW of thick steels, optimization of microstructure and properties can be attained by controlling the heat input and post-weld cooling rate.

Effect of substitution of Si by Al on the microstructure and mechanical properties of bainitic transformation-induced plasticity steels

The effect of partial or full substitution of Si by Al on the microstructure and mechanical properties has been extensively studied in multi-phase transformation-induced plasticity（TRIP） steels with polygonal ferrite matrix, but rarely studied in bainitic TRIP steels. The aim of the present study is to properly investigate the effect of Al and Si on bainite transformation, microstructure and mechanical properties in bainitic steels in order to provide guidelines for the alloying design as a function of process parameters for the 3 rd generation advanced high strength steels（AHSS）. It is shown from the dilatometry study,microstructural investigations and tensile properties measurements that the Al addition results in an acceleration whereas Si addition leads to a retardation in bainite transformation kinetics. The addition of Al retards the decomposition of austenite into pearlite and carbides at holding temperatures higher than450℃ whereas Si retards the decomposition of austenite into carbides at temperatures lower than 450℃.Consequently, the Al-added bainitic steel has a better strength-elongation combination at bainitic holding temperatures higher than 450℃ while Si-added steel has a better strength-elongation combination at temperatures lower than 450℃. The higher yield strength of Al-added steel is mainly attributed to its finer bainitic lath. The higher tensile strength of Si-added steel is not only related to the stronger contribution of Si on work hardening during deformation, but also due to the higher volume fraction of martensite or martensite/austenite（MA） blocks in all heat treatment conditions, as well as the lower mechanical stability of retained austenite in this steel.