Isothermal Growth Kinetics of Ultra-fine Austenite Grains in a Nb-V-Ti Microalloyed Steel

Ultra-fine austenite grains with size of i-3 μm were prepared in a Nb-V-Ti steel through repetitive treatment of rapid heating and quenching. A model for the growth kinetics of these ultra-fine austenite grains was successfully created through successive 2 processes, and the activation energy Q for growth was estimated to be about 693.2 kJ/mol, which directly shows the inhibition effect of microalloy elements on the growth of ultra-fine austenite grains.

Monte Carlo study on abnormal growth of Goss grains in Fe-3%Si steel induced by second-phase particles

The selective abnormal growth of Goss grains in magnetic sheets of Fe-3%Si （grade Hi-B） induced by second-phase particles （AlN and MnS） was studied using a modified Monte Carlo Ports model. The starting microstructures for the simulations were generated from electron backscatter diffraction （EBSD） orientation imaging maps of recrystallized samples. In the simulation, second-phase particles were assumed to be randomly distributed in the initial microstructures and the Zener drag effect of particles on Goss grain boundaries was assumed to be selectively invalid because of the unique properties of Goss grain boundaries. The simulation results suggest that normal growth of the matrix grains stagnates because of the pinning effect of particles on their boundaries. During the onset of abnormal grain growth, some Goss grains with concave boundaries in the initial microstructure grow fast abnormally and other Goss grains with convex boundaries shrink and eventually disappear.

Numerical study of growth competition between twin grains during directional solidification by using multi-phase field method

A multi-phase field model is established to simulate the growth competition and evolution behavior between seaweed and columnar dendrites during directional solidification.According to the effects of surface tension and interfacial energy,we quantitatively analyze the influences of factors such as inclination angles,pulling velocity,and anisotropic strength on twin growth.The results demonstrate that the pulling velocity and anisotropic strength have an important influence on the morphology and evolution of the seaweed and dendritic growth.The low pulling velocity and anisotropic strength are both key parameters for maintaining the stable morphology of seaweed during competitive growth in a bicrystal,showing that the lateral branching behavior is the root of the dendrites that can ultimately dominate the growth.And it is clarified that the lateral branching behavior and lateral blocking are the root causes of the final dominant growth of dendrites.With the increase of anisotropy strength,the seaweed is eliminated fastest in case 1,the seaweed is transformed into degenerate dendritic morphology,and eliminates the seaweed by promoting the generation and lateral growth of the lateral branches of the dendrites.The increase of pulling velocity is to increase the undercooling of favorable oriented grain and accelerate the growth rate of dendrites,thus producing more new primary dendrites for lateral expansion and accelerating the elimination rate of unfavorable oriented grain.

Microstructure evolution and grain growth behavior of Ti14 alloy during semi-solid isothermal process

Microstructure evolution of Ti14 （α＋Ti2Cu） alloy during semi-solid isothermal process at different temperatures was investigated. The results reveal that both the temperature and holding time have effect on the grain growth behavior. The grains grow obviously and the degree of globularity increases with the increase of holding time. According to the statistic analysis of experimental data, the grain growth indices are 0.88 and 0.97 at 1 000 ℃ and 1 050 ℃, respectively, which indicates that increasing isothermal temperature would accelerate microstructural evolution.

In situ observation of austenite grain growth behavior in the simulated coarse-grained heat-affected zone of Ti-microalloyed steels

The austenite grain growth behavior in a simulated coarse-grained heat-affected zone during thermal cycling was investigated via in situ observation. Austenite grains nucleated at ferrite grain boundaries and then grew in different directions through movement of grain boundaries into the ferrite phase. Subsequently, the adjacent austenite grains impinged against each other during the α→γtransformation. After the α→γ transformation, austenite grains coarsened via the coalescence of small grains and via boundary migration between grains. The growth process of austenite grains was a continuous process during heating, isothermal holding, and cooling in simulated thermal cycling. Abundant finely dispersed nanoscale TiN particles in a steel specimen containing 0.012wt% Ti effectively retarded the grain boundary migration, which resulted in refined austenite grains. When the Ti concentration in the steel was increased, the number of TiN particles de- creased and their size coarsened. The big particles were not effective in pinning the austenite grain boundary movement and resulted in coarse austenite grains.

Characterization of grain growth behaviors by BP-ANN and Sellars models for nickle-base superalloy and their comparisons

In order to deeply understand the grain growth behaviors of Ni80A superalloy,a series of grain growth experiments were conducted at holding temperatures ranging from 1223 to 1423 K and holding time ranging from 0 to 3600 s.A back-propagation artificial neural network(BP-ANN)model and a Sellars model were solved based on the experimental data.The prediction and generalization capabilities of these two models were evaluated and compared on the basis of four statistical indicators.The results show that the solved BP-ANN model has better performance as it has higher correlation coefficient(r),lower average absolute relative error(AARE),lower absolute values of mean value(μ)and standard deviation(ω).Eventually,a response surface of average grain size to holding temperature and holding time is constructed based on the data expanded by the solved BP-ANN model,and the grain growth behaviors are described.

The preferential growth and related textural evolution during static recrystallization in a cold-rolled Mg-Zn-Gd alloy

The grain growth process plays an important role in the texture formation in magnesium alloys.The microstructural and micro-textural evolution of a cold-rolled Mg-Zn-Gd alloy during annealing at 350℃for 60-190 min were tracked by quasi-in-situ electron backscatter diffraction method.The results show that grain growth takes place gradually with the annealing time increasing.Moreover,the TD-split texture maintains the texture type but alters in three aspects-the increased tilting angle,the decreased pole intensity and the widened distribution of high-intensity area.Grains with their c-axis tilting 45-70°from normal direction show preferential growth which is closely associated with the texture changes.The original grain size advantage is one of the important factors leading to the growth advantage,some grain boundaries,such as 50-60°[1^(-)21^(-)0],50-60°[2750],60-70°[1^(-)21^(-)0](18b),and 70-80°[1^(-)01^(-)0](10)are also considered to be related to this preferential growth.

In situ observations of austenite grain growth in Fe-C-Mn-Si super bainitic steel

In situ observations of austenite grain growth in Fe-C-Mn-Si super bainitic steel were conducted on a high-temperature laser scanning confocal microscope during continuous heating and subsequent isothermal holding at 850, 1000, and 1100℃ for 30 min. A grain growth model was proposed based on experimental results. It is indicated that the austenite grain size increases with austenitizing temperature and holding time. When the austenitizing temperature is above 1100℃, the austenite grains grow rapidly, and abnormal austenite grains occur. In addition, the effect of heating rate on austenite grain growth was investigated, and the relation between austenite grains and bainite morphology after bainitic transformations was also discussed.

Microstructural evolution and grain growth mechanism of pre-twinned magnesium alloy during annealing

The microstructural evolution and underlying grain growth mechanism of a{1012}-twin-containing Mg alloy during annealing are investigated through quasi in situ electron backscatter diffraction measurements of a rolled AZ31 alloy subjected to precompression along the rolling direction(RD).The precompressed material shows a partially twinned structure consisting of a twinned region and a residual matrix region,and this structure changes to an almost twin-free structure consisting of grown grains with serrated grain boundaries in twinand matrix-originated regions after annealing at 250℃ for 1 h.In addition,the average grain size almost doubles and the internal strain energy decreases significantly after annealing.These microstructural variations are induced mainly by grain growth through the strain-induced migration of high-angle grain boundaries without the movement of twin boundaries.The twinned region of the precompressed material has higher stored strain energy than the residual matrix region because the crystallographic orientation of the former region is favorable for basal slip and because of the occurrence of the dislocation transmutation reaction in the twins.For reducing the total strain energy accumulated in the precompressed material,the residual matrix region—having lower stored strain energy—preferentially grows while consuming the twinned regions formed in the surrounding grains during annealing.As a result,the area fraction of grains with a matrix texture increases whereas that of grains with a twin texture decreases after annealing.The twin texture intensity increases significantly and this texture becomes more concentrated along the RD because the highly RD oriented twins tend to grow during annealing on account of their fairly low stored strain energy.

Grain Growth Behavior in Sintered Nd-Fe-B Magnets

The Nd2Fe14B grain growth behavior in sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets was quantitatively described.The effects of sintering temperature and time,and alloy powder size and its distribution on grain growth process were analyzed.Hence,possible grain growth mechanisms in these magnets were qualitatively discussed.The Nd2Fe14B grain growth proceeded at quite a high rate in the initial 0~1 h of sintering and from then onwards the grain growth rate decreased.A large average particle size or a wide particle size distribution of initial alloy powders was found to remarkably accelerate the grain growth process and even result in the occurrence of abnormal grain growth.On the basis of experimental results,two grain growth mechanisms were considered to operate during sintering of Nd-Fe-B magnets,that is,dissolution and re-precipitation of Nd2Fe14B particles,and Nd2Fe14B particle growth by coalescence.It was believed that Nd2Fe14B particle growth by coalescence not only produced a large average grain size and a wide grain size distribution,but also was the fundamental reason for the formation of abnormally large grains in the microstructure of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets.

Static recrystallization and grain growth during annealing of an extruded Mg-Zn-Zr-Er magnesium alloy

Microstructure stability is essential to maintain a fine grain structure for an alloy throughout its processing.The effects of Er addition and its existing form on the static recrystallization and grain growth during annealing of an extruded Mg-1.5Zn-0.6Zr magnesium alloy were studied in this paper.The results showed that microstructure stability was much improved by Er addition and the best thermability was obtained in 2 wt.%Er-containing alloy.For the incomplete dynamic recrystallization(DRX)microstructures extruded at a lower temperature of 350℃,Er addition increased the resistance of static recrystallization;and for the complete DRX microstructures extruded at a relatively high temperature of 420℃,Er addition suppressed grain growth.The difference in microstructure stability was then correlated with the microstructure features.Both the intermetallic phase and the solute atoms of Er inα-Mg matrix contributed to the microstructure stability.Moreover,it is believed that the existing form of Er-Zn atom pairs in theα-Mg solid solution favored the most to improve the thermal stability of the alloy.

MODELING OF FERRITE GRAIN GROWTH OF LOW CARBON STEELS DURING HOT ROLLING

For most commercial steels the prediction of the final properties depends on accurately calculating the room temperature ferrite grain size. A grain growth model is proposed for low carbon steels Q235B during hot rolling. By using this model, the initial ferrite grain size after continuous cooling and ferrite grain growing in coiling procedure can be predicted. In-plant trials were performed in the hot strip mill of Ansteel. The calculated final ferrite grain sizes are in good agreement with the experimental ones. It is helpful both for simulation of microstructure evolution and prediction of mechanical properties.

Effects of yttrium on recrystallization and grain growth of Mg-4.9Zn-0.7Zr alloy

Recrystallization and grain growth in Mg-4.9Zn-0.7Zr and Mg-4.9Zn-0.9Y-0.7Zr alloys as a function of temperature on deformation were investigated with regards to hot rolling and annealing. The influence of yttrium addition on the microstructure was examined by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, optical microscopy （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The results indicated that yttrium addition promoted nucleation of recrystallization during hot rolling process. The grain size of Mg-4.9Zn-0.7Zr alloy samples grew significantly with annealing temperature （300-400 ℃） and holding time （0-120 min）, while the microstructure of the alloy with yttrium addition remained unchanged and fine. The activation energy of grain boundary migration for Mg-4.9Zn-0.9Y-0.7Zr alloy samples （56.34 kJ/mol） was higher than that for Mg-4.9Zn-0.7Zr （42.66 kJ/mol） owing to the pinning effect of Y-containing particles. The proposed growth models of recrysta/lized grains for the two studied alloys conformed well to E. Robert＇s grain-growth equation. Besides, the ultimate strength and yield strength of the alloys with yttrium addition were improved with good plasticity.

ON THE MONTE CARLO SIMULATION OF NORMAL GRAIN GROWTH

The microstructures and their kinetics of normal grain growth are simulated using different Monte Carlo （MC） algorithms. Compared with the relative figures and the theoretical normal grain growth exponents of n =0.5, the effects of some factors of MC algorithm, i.e. the lattice types, the methods of selecting lattice sites, and the neighbors selection for energy calculations, on the simulation results of grain growth are studied. Two methods of regression were compared, and the three-parameter nonlinear regression is much more suitable for fitting the grain growth kinetics. A better model with appropriate factors included triangular lattice, the attempted site randomly selected, and the first and second nearest neighbors for energy calculations is obtained.

Growth of metallic iron particles during reductive roasting of boron-bearing magnetite concentrate

The growing characteristics of metallic iron particles during reductive roasting of boron-bearing magnetite concentrate under different conditions were investigated.The size of the metallic iron particles was quantitatively measured via optical image analysis with consideration of size calibration and weighted ratio of image numbers in the core,middle and periphery zones of cross-section of pellets.In order to guarantee the measurement accuracy,54 images were captured in total for each specimen,with a weighted ratio of 1:7:19 with respect to the core,middle and periphery section of the cross-section of pellets.Increasing reduction temperature and time is favorable to the growth of metallic iron particles.Based on the modification of particle size measurement,in terms of time(t)and temperature(T)a predicting model of metallic iron particle size(D),was established as:D=125−0.112t−0.2352T−5.355×10^−4t^2+2.032×10^−4t∙T+1.134×10^−4T^2.

Grain growth in calibre rolled Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy and its effect on hardness

Calibre rolling of Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy at 300℃ led to development of fine grain size of 3μm.Subsequent annealing,from 5 to 6000 minutes at 300-450℃,revealed faster grain growth initially up to 60 minutes,which became sluggish on prolonged annealing.The time exponent for grain growth kinetics(n)suggests bi-linear behaviour with n=0.11 and 0.008 over these time scales.The activation energy,based on various n values,varied over wide ranges that made the understanding of the mechanisms for grain growth difficult.This problem is explained by concurrent evolution of texture and grain boundary structure.The effect of grain growth on hardness at ambient temperature was found to follow the H-P type relationship.

Grain growth in AZ31 alloy after uniaxial compression

The grain growth morphology,kinetics and texture change after uniaxial compression at 430 ℃ of an extruded AZ31 alloy were studied.The samples were loaded following two routes insuring two initial textures of the samples with compression direction parallel and normal to the extrusion direction.For both initial textures,a stable grain size is attained upon isothermal annealing and the grain growth kinetics can be described by:dn= dRn+kt with an n value of around 15.The annealing texture with grown grains is a retained hot deformation texture without emerging or strengthening other components.Abnormal grain growth is not observed for annealing time up to 10 000 h at 450℃.

Grain Growth Behavior of 5Cr21Mn9Ni4N Steel Micro-Alloyed by Rare Earth

Grain growth behavior of 5Cr21Mn9Ni4NRE steel was experimentally studied at various solid solution treatment temperatures and holding for different times. The experimental results show that the 5Cr21Mn9Ni4NRE steel has the feature of sharp austenite grain coarsening after solid solution treatment at the temperature above 1150 ℃. RE added in the steel has the benefit to restrain grain growth and increase grain growth activation energy.

The role of recrystallization and grain growth in optimizing the sheet texture of magnesium alloys with calcium addition during annealing

The contribution of recrystallization and grain growth to the texture evolution in AZ31 alloy and a modified version AZ31+0.5 wt.%Ca was investigated utilizing a multi-step annealing process.The results showed that the addition of Ca triggered a considerable texture modification by increasing the texture spread and decreasing the overall texture intensity.This effect was found to be temperature dependent.When the annealing temperature remained lower than 450℃,a weak double peak texture with large basal pole tilt towards the RD was formed.This is correlated to microstructure observations of a large number of Ca-containing nano-sized particles that seemed to suppress grain growth below 450℃,which stabilized the weak recrystallization texture.This favorable texture was lost upon annealing at higher temperatures.In AZ31,recrystallization nuclei were found to preserve the orientation of their deformed parents,which offered limited potential to optimize the texture via annealing treatments.Grain growth of recrystallized grains resulted in a distinct sheet texture transition from a double-peak to a single-peak basal texture.Aspects of grain boundary energy and grain topology are discussed to explain the growth advantage of the sharp basal component over other orientations.

Isothermal grain growth of reactive spray formed 7075 alloys in semi-solid state

The grain growth behavior in reactive spray formed 7075+2.91 vol percent TiCAl alloy was studied and compared with that of spray formed 7075 Al alloy at semi-solid state. Theeffects of in-situ TiC particles on the microstructure of spray formed 7075 Al alloy were alsoinvestigated. The specimens were heat-treated isothermally at various temperatures between thesolidus and liquidus of 7075 Al alloy for times in the range of 10-60 min, then quenched in water.The microstructure of reheated specimens was characterized using scanning electron microscopy andoptical microscopy. The grain size was measured using a mean linear intercept method. Results showthat the in-situ TiC particles can effectively retard grain growth and refine the grain at a limitedsize. The grain growth exponent in Arrhenius equation increases from 2 to 3, which indicates thatthe in-situ TiC particles have the significant pinning effect on grain coarsening in the semi-solidstate.