NUMERICAL SIMULATION FOR DEFORMATION OF NANO-GRAINED METALS

Electro-deposition technique is capable of producing nano-grained bulk copper specimens that exhibit superplastic extensibility at room temperature. Metals of such small grain sizes deform by grains sliding,with little distortion occur- ring in the grain cores.Accommodation mechanisms such as grain boundary diffusion, sliding and grain rotation control the kinetics of the process.Actual deformation min- imizes the plastic dissipation and stored strain energy for representative steps of grain neighbor switching.Numerical simulations based on these principles are discussed in this paper.

Deformation Behavior and Formability of Gradient Nano-grained AISI 304 Stainless Steel Processed by Ultrasonic Impact Treatment

The deformation behavior and formability of gradient nano-grained（GNG） AISI 304 stainless steel in uniaxial and biaxial states were investigated by means of tensile test and small punch test（SPT）. The GNG top layer was fabricated on coarse grains（CG） AISI 304 by ultrasonic impact treatment. The results showed that the CG substrate could effectively suppress the strain localization of NC in GNG layer, and an approximate linear relationship existed between the thickness of substrate（h） and uniform true strain before necking（ε_（unif））. Grain growth of NC was observed at the stress state with high Stress triaxiality T, which led to better ductility of GNG/CG 304 in SPT, as well as similar true strain after the onset of necking（ε_（neck）） compared with coarse 304 in tensile test. Ei-values of GNG/CG 304 with different structures were nearly the same at different punch speeds, and good formability of GNG/CG 304 was demonstrated. However, punch speed and microstructure needed to be optimized to avoid much lost of membrane strain region in biaxial stress state.

Friction and wear behaviors of a gradient nano-grained AISI 316L stainless steel under dry and oil-lubricated conditions

A gradient nano-grained （GNG） surface layer was fabricated on an AIS1316L stainless steel （SS） by using the surface mechanical rolling treatment （SMRT）. Reciprocating dry and oil-lubricated sliding tests of the GNG 316L SS in air at room temperature were conducted in comparison with the coarse-grained （CG） counterpart. Worn surface morphologies and subsurface microstructures were investigated for both 316L SS samples. 316L SS with a GNG surface layer shows a significantly improved wear resistance, especially under oil-lubricated condition. The notably wear resistance enhancement of the GNG 316L SS is attributed to the GNG surface layer with high strain accommodation ability and high hardness, which can reduce the wear volume in the running-in stage effectively.

A low-to-high friction transition in gradient nano-grained Cu and Cu–Ag alloys

A unique low-to-high friction transition is observed during unlubricated sliding in metals with a gradient nano-grained(GNG)surface layer.After persisting in the low-friction state(0.2–0.4)for tens of thousands of cycles,the coefficients of friction in the GNG copper(Cu)and copper-silver(Cu–5Ag)alloy start to increase,eventually reaching a high level(0.6–0.8).By monitoring the worn surface morphology evolution,wear-induced damage accumulation,and worn subsurface structure evolution during sliding,we found that the low-to-high friction transition is strongly correlated with distinct microstructural instabilities induced by vertical plastic deformation and wear-off of the stable nanograins in the subsurface layer.A very low wear loss of the GNG samples was achieved compared with the coarse-grained sample,especially during the low friction stage.Our results suggest that it is possible to postpone the initiation of low-to-high friction transitions and enhance the wear resistance in GNG metals by increasing the GNG structural stability against grain coarsening under high loading.

Fatigue Property of Nano-grained Delaminated Low-carbon Steel Sheet

Tension-tension fatigue life tests on nano-grained delaminated low-carbon steel sheet under different fatigue loads are carried out to study the fatigue properties of the steel. The three-dimensional microstructures of the steel are observed by TEM. In addition, the morphology of the fatigue fracture of the specimen under different loads is observed by SEM. The results show that micro-cracks form on the weak interface of the nano-grained steel under low-stress conditions, which hinders the propagation of the main cracks and reduces the fatigue crack propagation rate, resulting in the extending fatigue life of the steel.

Excellent strength-ductility synergy properties of gradient nano-grained structural CrCoNi medium-entropy alloy

Tailoring heterogeneities could bring out excellent strength-ductility synergy properties.A gradient nanograined(GNG)structure,i.e.grain size range from nanometer(~50 nm)at topest surface layer to micrometer(~1.3μm)at center layer,was successfully introduced into CrCoNi medium-entropy alloy(MEA)by means of high energy shot peening in this work.Experimental results demonstrated that this GNG CrCoNi MEA shows excellent strength and ductility combination properties,exhibiting high yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of~1215 MPa and~1524 MPa,respectively,while remaining a good ductility of~23.0%.The extraordinary hetero-deformation induced(HDI)hardening origins from heterogeneous structure,i.e.GNG structure,which contributes to the majority strength enhancement.Dynamical reinforced heterogeneous structure during tension process results in the enhanced HDI hardening effect,which facilitates excellent ductility and strain hardening capacity at high-level strength.Our work provide not only a feasible and effective way to strengthen the CrCoNi MEA,and other low stacking faults energy(SFE)materials,but also an useful insight to understanding HDI hardening in heterogeneous structure.

Grain boundary segregation and relaxation in nano-grained polycrystalline alloys

The present study carries out systematic thermodynamics analysis of Grain Boundary(GB)segregation and relaxation in NanoGrained(NG)polycrystalline alloys.GB segregation and relaxation is an internal process towards thermodynamic equilibrium,which occurs naturally in NG alloys without any applied loads,causes deformation and generates internal stresses.The analysis comprehensively investigates the multiple coupling effects among chemical concentrations and mechanical stresses in GBs and grains.A hybrid approach of eigenstress and eigenstrain is developed herein to solve the multiple coupling problem.The analysis results indicate that the GB stress and grain stress induced by GB segregation and relaxation can be extremely high in NG alloys,reaching the GPa level,which play an important role in the thermal stability of NG alloys,especially via the coupling terms between stress and concentration.The present theoretic analysis proposes a novel criterion of thermal stability for NG alloys,which is determined by the difference in molar free energy between a NG alloy and its reference single crystal with the same nominal chemical composition.If the difference at a temperature is negative or zero,the NG alloy is thermal stable at that temperature,otherwise unstable.

Orientation dependence of mechanically induced grain boundary migration in nano-grained copper

Tensile tests were carried out on gradient nanograined copper samples to investigate the grain orientation dependence of mechanically induced grain boundary migration(GBM) process. The relationship between GBM and the orientations of nanograins relative to loading direction was established by using electron backscatter diffraction. GBM is found to be more pronounced in the grains with higher Schmid factors where dislocations are easier to slip. As a result, the fraction of high angle grain boundaries decreases and that of low angle grain boundaries increases after GBM.

Fabrication of nano-grained negative temperature coefficient thermistors with high electrical stability

Dense nano-grained Ni_(0.7)Mn_(2.3O4) negative temperature coefficient(NTC) thermistors were fabricated by a novel two-step sintering approach that combines rapid sintering and principle of conventional two-step sintering technique.Samples were sintered at 1042℃ for 30 s in the first rapid step and then at 850-950℃ for 20 h in the second soaking step.Crystal phase,microstructure and electrical properties of sintered samples were studied by X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),resistance temperature relationship and aging performance.Sintered samples show a single-phase cubic spinel structure and indicate a high relative density ranging from 84% to 91% of the theoretical density.Moreover,average grain sizes of sintered samples under SEM are distributed between 254 and 570 nm.Meanwhile,the resistivity and the aging coefficient significantly decrease when soaking sintering temperature rises.In addition,the obtained material constant(B) ranges from 3931 to 3981 K.Ni_(0.7)Mn_(2.3)O_(4)-3(soaking at 900℃) and Ni_(0.7)Mn_(2.3O4)-4(soaking at 950℃) present little aging behavior,implying great electrical stability.

Using two-pass friction stir processing to produce nanocrystalline microstructure in AZ61 magnesium alloy

Despite their interesting properties,nanostructured materials have found limited use as a result of the cost of preparation and the difficulty in scaling up.Herein,a two-pass friction stir processing(FSP)technique is employed to refine grain sizes to a nanoscale.Nanocrystalline AZ61 Mg alloy with an av-erage grain size of less than 100nm was successfully obtained using FSP.Corresponding to this,the highest microhardness of the nano-grained region reached triple times that of AZ61 substrate.In prin-ciple,by applying multiple overlapping passes,it should be possible to produce any desired size thin sheet of nanostructure using this technique.We expect that the FSP technique may pave a way to large-scale structural applications of nanostructured metals and alloys.

Evolution of microstructure and tensile properties of cold-drawn hyper-eutectoid steel wires during post-deformation annealing

Manufacturing temperatures of severely cold-drawn hyper-eutectoid steel wires are sufficiently high to influence the mobility of dislocations and alloy elements,thereby affecting the materials’mechanical properties.Herein,we describe the evolution of microstructure and tensile strength of the as-drawn 3.45 GPa steel wire during post-deformation annealing for 30 min at 150-450℃.Annealing at 150℃raised the strength to 3.77 GPa by age-hardening through activation of dislocations pinning by carbon,while further temperature rising up to 450℃caused a severe loss of strength.It was proved that annealing at 300 and 450℃destabilizes the lamellar microstructure,promoting the formation of carbon-deficient(Fe,Mn,Cr)3 C-type cementite particles with preferentially rounded and partially faceted hetero-interfaces.Annealing at 450℃yielded the accumulation of Mn and Cr at the ferrite/particle interfaces,and their concentrations at the interfaces were dependent on the interface structure;i.e.,lower concentrations at rounded interfaces(formed through capillarity–driven coarsening of the spheroidized cementite),and higher concentrations at faceted interfaces(that are initially existing in the as-drawn state).Our proof-of-principle observations,supported by thermodynamic calculations and kinetic assessments,provide a pathway for understanding the changes in microstructural and tensile properties during manufacturing of the hyper-eutectoid steel wires.