Influence of Rare Earth Elements on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cast High-Speed Steel Rolls

The influence of rare earth （RE） elements on the solidification process and eutectic transformation and mechanical properties of the high-V type cast, high-speed steel roll was studied. Test materials with different RE additions were prepared on a horizontal centrifugal casting machine. The solidification process, eutectic structure transformation, carbide morphology, and the elements present, were all investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive spectrometry （SEM-EDS）. The energy produced by crack initiation and crack extension was analyzed using a digital impact test machine. It was found that rare earth elements increased the tensile strength of the steel by inducing crystallization of earlier eutectic γ-Fe during the solidification process, which in turn increased the solidification temperature and thinned the dendritic grains. Rare earth elements with large atomic radius changed the lattice parameters of the MC carbide by forming rare earth carbides. This had the effect of dispersing longpole M C carbides to provide carbide grains, thereby, reducing the formation of the gross carbide and making more V available, to increase the secondary hardening process and improve the hardness level. The presence of rare earth elements in the steel raised the impact toughness by changing the mechanism of MC carbide formation, thereby increasing the crack initiation energy.

Microstructure,Properties and Crack Suppression Mechanism of High-speed Steel Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting at Different Process Parameters

To enrich material types applied to additive manufacturing and enlarge application scope of additive manufacturing in conformal cooling tools,M2 high-speed steel specimens were fabricated by selective laser melting(SLM).Effects of SLM parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of M2 high-speed steel were investigated.The results showed that substrate temperature and energy density had significant influence on the densification process of materials and defects control.Models to evaluate the effect of substrate temperature and energy density on hardness were studied.The optimized process parameters,laser power,scan speed,scan distance,and substrate temperature,for fabricated M2 are 220 W,960 mm/s,0.06 mm,and 200℃,respectively.Based on this,the hardness and tensile strength reached 60 HRC and 1000 MPa,respectively.Interlaminar crack formation and suppression mechanism and the relationship between temperature gradient and thermal stress were illustrated.The inhibition effect of substrate temperature on the cracks generated by residual stresses was also explained.AM showed great application potential in the field of special conformal cooling cutting tool preparation.

Experimental research on electromagnetic continuous casting high-speed steel composite roll

A high speed steel composite roll billet was fabricated, which is regular in shape, smooth in surface, slight in trace, compact in internal structure, free of slag inclusion, shrinkage cavity, cracks and other flaws, and good in macro quality of junction surface using a vertical continuous casting machine. The interface zone microstructure of bimetallic in billet of high speed steel composite roll was analyzed by metallurgical microscope(OM), X-ray diffractmeter(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis(EDS). The results indicate that the microstructure of roll billet is composed of chilled solidified layer, dendrite zone, interfacial zone of bimetal and core material zone. The microstructure of outer shell material is composed of martensite + bainite + residual austenite + some small labyrinth-shape, small-short lath-shape, or dollop-shape eutectic carbides. The microstructure of core material is slice-shape pearlite and a little ferrite along boundary of cells. The interface region microstructure of bimetallic composite roll consists of diffusion region, chilled solidified layer and columnar grain region.

Precipitation and decomposition behaviors of carbides in AISI M2 high-speed steel with nitrogen and mischmetal

The behaviors of the precipitation and decomposition of carbides in AISI M2 high-speed steel modified by nitrogen and mischmetal were investigated using DSC, XRD, SEM and TEM. The as-cast microstructure of the experimental steel consists of dendrites of iron matrix, networks of eutectic carbides and secondary carbides. The average distance between networks is about 34 μm. The carbides mainly include M_2C, M(C,N) and M_6C, and their relative contents are 58.5%, 30.3% and 11.2%, respectively. The average spacing between the M_2C fibers is 1.5 μm. The decomposition of M_2C occurs from 897.2 to 1221.5 ℃(heating rate of 200 ℃/h). Some precipitated carbide particles occur in the M_2C matrix after holding for 15 min at 1100 ℃. With increasing holding time, the carbide fibers neck down more and more obviously until they are broken down. The spectral peaks of M_2C almost disappear after holding for 60 min. The spectral peaks of M_6C gradually strengthen with the holding time, and the relative content of M_6C increases to 79.8% after holding for 60 min. After holding for 180 min, the carbide fibers disappear, and the decomposition products consist of fine carbide particles(about 300 nm) and short rod-like carbides(about 3.5 μm).

Effect of melting rate on microsegregation and primary MC carbides in M2 high-speed steel during electroslag remelting

Large-size primary MC carbides can significantly reduce the performance of M2 high-speed steel.To better control the morphology and size of primary MC carbides,the effect of melting rate on microsegregation and primary MC carbides of M2 steel during electroslag remelting was investigated.When the melting rate is decreased from 2 kg·min^(-1) to 0.8 kg·min^(-1),the columnar dendrites are gradually coarsened,and the extent of segregation of Mo and V is alleviated,while the segregation of Cr becomes severe.At 2 kg·min^(-1),the number of primary MC carbides per unit area with the sizes in the range of 2 μm to 6 μm accounts for about 75% of all MC carbides,while the carbides are mainly concentrated on the size larger than 8 μm at 0.8 kg·min^(-1).Thermodynamic calculations based on the Clyne-Kurz (simplified to C-K) model shows that MC carbide can be precipitated in the final solidification stage and a smaller secondary dendrite arm spacing caused by higher melting rate (2 kg·min^(-1) in this experiment) facilitates the refinement of primary MC carbides.

PREDICTION OF FLOW STRESS OF HIGH-SPEED STEEL DURING HOT DEFORMATION BY USING BP ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

The hot deformation behavior of TI (18W-4Cr-1V) high-speed steel was investigated by means of continuous compression tests performed on Gleeble 1500 thermomechan- ical simulator in a wide range of tempemtures (950℃-1150℃) with strain rotes of 0.001s-1-10s-1 and true strains of 0-0. 7. The flow stress at the above hot defor- mation conditions is predicted by using BP artificial neural network. The architecture of network includes there are three input parameters:strain rate,temperature T and true strain , and just one output parameter, the flow stress ,2 hidden layers are adopted, the first hidden layer includes 9 neurons and second 10 negroes. It has been verified that BP artificial neural network with 3-9-10-1 architecture can predict flow stress of high-speed steel during hot deformation very well. Compared with the prediction method of flow stress by using Zaped-Holloman parumeter and hyperbolic sine stress function, the prediction method by using BP artificial neurul network has higher efficiency and accuracy.

Computer simulation on the controlled cooling of 82B high-speed rod

A modified temperature-phase transformation field coupled nonlinear mathematical model was made and used in computer simulation on the controlled cooling of 82B high-speed rods. The surface temperature history and volume fraction of pearlite as well as the phase transformation history were simulated by using the finite element software Marc/Mentat. The simulated results were compared with the actual measurement and the agreement is good which can validate the presented computational models.

Effect of car-body lower-center rolling on aerodynamic performance of a high-speed train

The interaction between the car-body vibration and aerodynamic performance of the train becomes more prominent motivated by the vehicle’s light-weighting design.To address this topic,this study firstly analyzes the posture characteristics of the car-body based on the previous full-scale test results.And then the aerodynamic performance under different vibration cases(different car-body roll angles)is studied with an improved delayed detached eddy simulation(IDDES).The results revealed that car-body rolling had a significant impact on the aerodynamic behavior of bogies,which significantly increased the lateral force and yaw moment of a bogie and further may have aggravated the operational instability of the train.The unbalanced distribution of the longitudinal pressure on both sides of the bogie caused by the car-body rolling motion was the primary cause for the bogie yaw moment increase.The tail vortex of the train was also affected by the car-body rolling,resulting in vertical jitter.

Microstructure simulation of rapidly solidified ASP30 high-speed steel particles by gas atomization

In this study, the microstructure evolution of rapidly solidified ASP30 high-speed steel particles was predicted using a simulation method based on the cellular automaton-finite element （CAFE） model. The dendritic growth kinetics, in view of the characteristics of ASP30 steel, were calculated and combined with macro heat transfer calculations by user-defined functions （UDFs） to simulate the microstructure of gas-atomized particles. The relationship among particle diameter, undercooling, and the convection heat transfer coefficient was also inves- tigated to provide cooling conditions for simulations. The simulated results indicated that a columnar grain microstructure was observed in small particles, whereas an equiaxed microstructure was observed in large particles. In addition, the morphologies and microstructures of gas-atomized ASP30 steel particles were also investigated experimentally using scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The experimental re- suits showed that four major types ofmicrostructures were formed： dendritic, equiaxed, mixed, and multi-droplet microstructures. The simu- lated results and the available experimental data are in good agreement.

Installation position determination of wind speed sensors on steel pole along a high-speed railway

In order to consider the influence of steel pole on the measurement of wind speed sensors and determinate the installation position of wind speed sensors, the flow field around wind speed sensors was investigated. Based on the three-dimensional steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and k-ε double equations turbulent model, the field flow around the wind speed sensor and the steel pole along a high-speed railway was simulated on an unstructured grid. The grid-independent validation was conducted and the accuracy of the present numerical simulation method was validated by experiments and simulations carried out by previous researchers. Results show that the steel pole has a significant influence on the measurement results of wind speed sensors. As the distance between two wind speed sensors is varied from 0.3 to 1.0 m, the impact angles are less than ±20°, it is proposed that the distance between two wind speed sensors is 0.8 m at least, and the interval between wind speed sensors and the steel pole is more than 1.0 m with the sensors located on the upstream side.

Interfacial structure and mechanical properties of hot-roll bonded joints between titanium alloy and stainless steel using niobium interlayer

The hot-roll bonding was carried out in vacuum between titanium alloy and stainless steel using niobium interlayer. The interfacial structure and mechanical properties were analyzed. The results show that the plasticity of bonded joint is improved significantly. When the bonding temperature is 800 °C or 900 °C, there is not intermetallic layer at the interface between stainless steel and niobium. When the bonding temperature is 1000 °C or 1050 °C, Fe-Nb intermetallic layer forms at the interface. When the bonding temperature is 1050 °C, cracking occurs between stainless steel and intermetallic layer. The maximum strength of -417.5 MPa is obtained at the bonding temperature of 900 °C, the reduction of 25% and the rolling speed of 38 mm/s, and the tensile specimen fractures in the niobium interlayer with plastic fracture characteristics. When the hot-roll bonded transition joints were TIG welded with titanium alloy and stainless steel respectively, the tensile strength of the transition joints after TIG welding is -410.3 MPa, and the specimen fractures in the niobium interlayer.

Effect of intermetallic compounds on heat resistance of hot roll bonded titanium alloy-stainless steel transition joint

The effect of intermetallic compounds on the heat resistance of transition joint was investigated. The experiment of post-weld heat treatment for the hot roll bonded titanium alloy-stainless steel joint using nickels interlayer was carried out, and the interface microstructure evolution due to heat treatment was presented. There was not found significant interdiffusion at stainless steel/nickel interface, when the specimens were heat treated in the temperature range of 600-800 °C for 10 and 30 min, while micro-cracks occurred at the stainless steel/nickel interface heat treated at 700 °C for 30 min. The thickness of intermetallic layers at nickel/titanium alloy interface increased at 600 °C, and micro-cracks occurred at 700 and 800 °C. The micro-cracks occurred between intermetallic layers or between intermetallic layer and nickel interlayer as well. The tensile strength of the transition joint decreased with the increase of heat treatment temperature or holding time.

Microstructure and cutting performance of CrTiAlN coating for high-speed dry milling

Using a closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering system,the cemented carbide end mills were coated with a CrTiAlN hard coating,which consisted of a Cr adhesive layer,a CrN interlayer and a CrTiAlN top layer.The microstructure and mechanical properties of the coating were investigated by X-ray diffraction（XRD）,scanning electron microscopy（SEM）,transmission electron microscopy（TEM）,micro indentation and scratch test.The cutting performance of the coated end mills were conducted by high-speed dry milling hardened steel（P20,HRC 45）.The results indicates that the coating is composed of（Cr,Ti,Al）N columnar grains with nanolayers.The coating exhibits good adhesion to cemented carbide substrate and high microhardness of around 30 GPa.The coated end mills show significant improvement on tool life and much lower cutting force as compared to the uncoated ones.And the related mechanisms were discussed.

Warm/cold rolling processes for producing Fe-6.5wt% Si electrical steel with columnar grains

A new technical prototype for producing Fe-6.5wt% Si electrical steel sheets by directional solidification, heat treatment before rolling, warm rolling, and cold rolling was proposed in the present study. The formability of Fe-6.5wt% Si electrical steel before rolling and the reasonable process parameters of this technical prototype were obtained. Experimental results reveal that the formability of Fe-6.5wt% Si electrical steel is improved significantly under the combination of directional solidification and heat treatment before rolling. Fe-6.5wt% Si electrical steel sheets with the thickness of 0.15 ram, bright surface, few edge cracks, and high rolling yield can be successfully fabricated using this technology without any intermediate annealing during the whole rolling. The combination of directional solidification, heat treatment before rolling, warm rolling, and cold rolling can work as a new process for highly efficient and compact fabrication of Fe-6.5wt% Si electrical steel sheets.

Effect of continuous annealing parameters on the mechanical properties and microstructures of a cold rolled dual phase steel

A cold rolled dual phase （DP） steel with the C-Si-Mn alloy system was trial-produced in the laboratory, utilizing a Gleeble-3800 thermal simulator. The effects of continuous annealing parameters on the mechanical properties and microstructures of the DP steel were investigated by mechanical testing and microstructure observation. The results show that soaking between 760 and 820℃ for more than 80 s, rapid cooling at the rate of more than 30℃/s from the quenching temperature between 620 and 680℃, and overaging lower than 300℃ are beneficial for the mechanical properties of DP steels. An appropriate proportion of the two phases is one of the key factors for the favorable properties of DP steels. If the volume fraction of martensite and, thereby, free dislocations are deficient, the tensile strength and n value of DP steels will decrease, whereas, the yield strength will increase. But if the volume fraction of martensite is excessive to make it become a dominant phase, the yield and tensile strength will increase, whereas, the elongation will decrease obviously. When rapid cooling rate is not fast enough, pearlite or cementite will appear, which will degrade the mechanical properties. Even though martensite is sufficient, if it is decomposed in high temperature tempering, the properties will he unsatisfied.

Effect of continuous annealing temperature on microstructure and properties of ferritic rolled interstitial-free steel

In this report,the microstructure,mechanical properties,and textures of warm rolled interstitial-free steel annealed at four different temperatures(730,760,790,and 820°C)were studied.The overall structural features of specimens were investigated by optical microscopy,and the textures were measured by X-ray diffraction(XRD).Nano-sized precipitates were then observed by a transmission electron microscope(TEM)on carbon extraction replicas.According to the results,with increased annealing temperatures,the ferrite grains grew;in addition,the sizes of Ti_4C_2S_2 and Ti C precipitates also increased.Additionally,the sizes of Ti N and Ti S precipitates slightly changed.When the annealing temperature increased from 730 to 820°C,the yield strength(YS)and the ultimate tensile strength(UTS)showed a decreasing trend.Meanwhile,elongation and the strain harden exponent(n value)increased to 49.6%and 0.34,respectively.By comparing textures annealed at different temperatures,the intensity of{111}texture annealed at 820°C was the largest,while the difference between the intensity of{111}<110>and{111}<112>was the smallest when the annealing temperature was 820°C.Therefore,the plastic strain ratio(r value)annealed at 820°C was the highest.

Effect of cold rolling on the microstructural, magnetic, mechanical, and corrosion properties of AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel

This study has evaluated the effect of different levels of cold rolling（from 0 to 50%）on the microstructural,magnetic,and mechanical properties and the corrosion behavior of 316L austenitic stainless steel in Na Cl（1 mol/L）＋H_2SO_4（0.5 mol/L）solution.Microstructural examinations using optical microscopy revealed the development of a morphological texture from coaxial to elongated grains during the cold-rolling process.Phase analysis carried out on the basis of X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of the ferromagneticα′-martensite phase under the stresses applied during cold rolling.This finding is in agreement with magnetic measurements using a vibrating sample magnetometer.Mechanical properties determined by tensile and Vickers microhardness tests demonstrated an upward trend in the hardness-to-yield strength ratio with increasing cold-rolling percentage,representing a reduction in the material’s work-hardening ability.Uniform and localized corrosion parameters were estimated via potentiodynamic polarization corrosion tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.In contrast to the uniform corrosion,wherein the corrosion current density increased with increasing cold-working degree because of the high density of microstructural defects,the passive potential range and breakdown potential increased by cold working,showing greater resistance to pit nucleation.Although pits were formed,the cold-rolled material repassivation tendency decreased because of the broader hysteresis anodic loop,as confirmed experimentally by observation of the microscopic features after electrochemical cyclic polarization evaluations.

Influence of Hot Deformation and Subsequent Austempering on the Mechanical Properties of Hot Rolled Multiphase Steel

Influence of hot deformation and subsequent austempering on the mechanical properties of hot rolled multiphase steel was investigated. Thermo-mechanical control processing （TMCP） was conducted by using a laboratory hot rolling mill, where three different kinds of finishing rolling reduction, and austemperings with various isothermal holding duration were applied. The results have shown that a multiphase microstructure consisting of polygonal ferrite, granular bainite and larger amount of stabilized retained austenite can be obtained by controlled rolling processes. Mechanical properties increase with increasing the amount of deformation because of the stabilization of retained austenite. Ultimate tensile strength （σb）, total elongation （σ） and the product of ultimate tensile strength and total elongation （σb-σ） reach the maximum values （791 MPa, 36% and 28476 MPa%, respectively） at optimal processes.

Centrifugal Casting of High Speed Steel/Nodular Cast Iron Compound Roll Collar

The centrifugal casting of compound HSS/nodular cast iron roll collar was studied,and the factors affecting transition zone quality were analyzed.The pouring temperature and interval in pouring are the main factors affecting transition zone quality.By controlling process parameter and flux adding during casting,high quality roll collar was obtained.The cause,why in the casting of HSS part,segregation appears easily,was analyzed and the countermeasure eliminating segregation was put forward,the measure eliminating heat treatment crackling was also put forward.

Effect of cryogenic rolling and annealing on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of 304 stainless steel

Metastable 304 austenitic stainless steel was subjected to rolling at cryogenic and room temperatures, followed by annealing at different temperatures from 500 to 950°C. Phase transition during annealing was studied using X-ray diffractometry. Transmission electron microscopy and electron backscattered diffraction were used to characterize the martensite transformation and the distribution of austenite grain size after annealing. The recrystallization mechanism during cryogenic rolling was a reversal of martensite into austenite and austenite growth. Cryogenic rolling followed by annealing refined grains to 4.7 μm compared with 8.7 μm achieved under room-temperature rolling, as shown by the electron backscattered diffraction images. Tensile tests showed significantly improved mechanical properties after cryogenic rolling as the yield strength was enhanced by 47% compared with room-temperature rolling.