Effect of Dynamic Strain Aging on Hardness in the Heat-Affected Zone of SUS316 Steel Welds

DSA(dynamic strain aging)phenomenon in SUS316 steel was investigated using isothermal and non-isothermal tensile tests of simulated HAZ(heat-affected zone)thermal cycles.Isothermal tensile tests were performed on SUS316 in the peak temperature range of 20-700°C,with strain rates varying from 4.2×10^(-3)to 4.2×10^(-5)s^(-1).Based on the appearance of discontinuous plastic flows,expressed as serrations,and the hardening phenomenon of the tensile samples,the conditions for the occurrence of DSA in the SUS316 steel were investigated.Furthermore,the extent of hardening due to DSA was evaluated by comparing the hardness values of the SUS316 and SUS316EHP steels after the tensile tests.To confirm the effect of DSA on hardness in the HAZ of the welded SUS316 steel,non-isothermal tensile tests of the simulated HAZ thermal cycles were performed using a Thermec Master.The relationship between the increase in Vickers hardness due to DSA and the strain in the HAZ was determined;the effect of DSA on hardness in the HAZ could be predicted.The DSA in SUS316 steel was found to be mainly attributed to the dynamic interaction of dislocations with C and N interstitial atoms during high-temperature deformation.

Improving Tribological Performance of Gray Cast Iron by Laser Peening in Dynamic Strain Aging Temperature Regime

A high and stable brake disc friction coefficient is needed for automobile safety, while the coefficient degrades due to elevated temperature during the braking process. There is no better solution except changes in material composition and shape design optimization. In the dynamic strain aging（DSA） temperature regime of gray cast iron, micro-dimples with different dimple depth over diameter and surface area density are fabricated on the material surface by laser peening（LP） which is an LST method. Friction behavior and wear mechanism are investigated to evaluate the effects of surface texturing on the tribological performance of specimens under dry conditions. Through LP impacts assisted by DSA, the friction coefficients of the LPed specimens increase noticeably both at room temperature and elevated temperature in comparison to untreated specimens. Moreover, the coefficient of specimen with dimple depth over diameter of 0.03 and surface area density of 30% is up to 0.351 at room temperature, which dramatically rises up to 1.33 times that of untextured specimen and the value is still up to 0.3305 at 400℃ with an increasing ratio of 35% compared to that of untreated specimen. The surface of textured specimen shows better wear resistance compared to untreated specimen. Wear mechanism includes adhesive wear, abrasive wear and oxidation wear. It is demonstrated that LP assisted by DSA can substantially improve wear resistance, raise the friction coefficient as well as its stability of gray cast iron under elevated temperatures. Heat fade and premature wear can be effectively relieved by this surface modification method.

EFFECT OF DYNAMIC STRAIN AGING ON LOW CYCLE FATIGUE BEHAVIOUR OF 18-8 AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL

Studies were made of the symmetric tensile-compressive low cycle fatigue behaviour and the influence of dynamic strain aging(DSA)pre-treatment of 18-8 austenitic stainless steel. Within the testing amplitude range of strain.±0.5 % to±1.5 %,the three processes of cyclic hardening,cyclic saturation and cyclic softening were observed.In the same amplitude of strain,the peak stress of the samples pre-treated by DSA is higher than that of solid-solu- tion and cold working pre-treatment,but no remarkable differences of the fatigue lives of them were found.TEM observation shows that the uniform and stable dislocation networks with high density form after DSA pre-treatment,which increases the cyclic peak stress.The cyclic softening results from the low dislocation density and elongated cell structure with low energy.

Stress-state dependence of dynamic strain aging:Thermal hardening and blue brittleness

This study aims to discover the stress-state dependence of the dynamic strain aging(DSA)effect on the deformation and fracture behavior of high-strength dual-phase(DP)steel at different deformation temperatures(25-400°C)and reveal the damage mechanisms under these various configurations.To achieve different stress states,predesigned specimens with different geometric features were used.Scanning electron microscopy was applied to analyze the fracture modes(e.g.,dimple or shear mode)and underlying damage mechanism of the investigated material.DSA is present in this DP steel,showing the Portevin-Le Chatelier(PLC)effect with serrated flow behavior,thermal hardening,and blue brittleness phenomena.Results show that the stress state contributes distinctly to the DSA effect in terms of the magnitude of thermal hardening and the pattern of blue brittleness.Either low stress triaxiality or Lode angle parameter promotes DSA-induced blue brittleness.Accordingly,the damage mechanisms also show dependence on the stress states in conjunction with the DSA effect.

A DISLOCATION-MECHANICS-BASED CONSTITUTIVE MODEL FOR DYNAMIC STRAIN AGING

Dynamic strain aging (DSA) is an important phenomenon in solutehardened metals and seri- ously affects the mechanical properties ofmetals. DSA is generally induced by the interaction between themoving dislocations and the mobile solute atoms. In this paper, onlythe interaction between moving disloca- tions and mobile solute atomsin a dislocation core area (core atmosphere) will be taken intoaccount. To es- tablish the constitutive model which can describe theDSA phenomenon, we improved the Zerilli-Armstrongdislocation-mechanics-based thermal viscoplastic constitutiverelation, and added the effect of the interaction between the movingdislocations and core atmosphere.

DYNAMIC STRAIN AGING BEHAVIOR OF K40S ALLOY

The dynamic strain aging behavior during tensile tests of K40S alloy has been investigated in the temperature range of 25-1100℃ with the strain rate range from 10-4 to 10-3s-1. The results show that four different types of serration, identified as A, B, C and E type serration were observed in the temperature range of 300-600℃. The strain exponents for onset of the serrated flow were calculated as 1.21, 2.19 and 1.61, and the activation energies as 121, 40 and 67kJ/mol for E, B and C type serration respectively. The main mechanism for dynamic strain aging discussed in light of the strain exponent and the activation energy.

EFFECT OF DYNAMIC STRAIN AGING ON PURE BENDING FATIGUE STRENGTH OF AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL

The effect of various dynamic strain aging(DSA)pre-treatment processes on pure bending fatigue strength of an 18-8 austenitic stainless steel was investigated.The results show that DSA pre-treatment processes increase remarkably the fatigue strength and the strengthening effects increase with increasing pre-strain temperature and pre-strain.The fatigue limit of specimens pre-treated by DSA is 87% higher than that by solution treatment,and 20% high- er than that by cold-working.TEM observations show that the uniform and stable dislocation networks with high density formed after DSA pre-treatment,which suppress effectively the initiation and propugation of fatigue cracks and increase the fatigue strength of materials.

A New Strategy for Restraining Dynamic Strain Aging in GH4169 Alloy During Tensile Deformation at High Temperature

The dynamic strain aging(DSA) behavior was investigated in GH4169 alloy during tensile deforming with electric-pulse current(EPC) at 750 ℃.The results show that DSA is restrained in the alloy when deformed with 40 Hz-EPC.The size ofγ " phase inner grains increases obviously and δ phase is facilitated to precipitate on grain boundary in the alloy applied with EPC,due to the promotion effect of EPC on the diffusion and segregation of atoms.Transmission electron microscopy(TEM)results indicate that dislocations can cut through small γ" precipitate with the size of less than 10 nm,while dislocations can only bypass dislocations when γ " precipitate grow up over 20 nm.The growth of precipitates consumes large amounts of atoms as well as the velocity of dislocation increase,which makes dislocations difficult to be pinned.Therefore,when γ" precipitates grow up to a large size more than the critical size of dislocation pinning,DSA is significantly restrained in the alloy after necking deformed with EPC.

Effect of strain rate and temperature on the serration behavior of SA508-Ⅲ RPV steel in the dynamic strain aging process

Dynamic strain aging （DSA） effect on SA508-III reactor pressure vessel （RPV） steel was investigated. The SA508-III RPV steel was subjected to tension tests at different strain rates （1.1× 10-5 s-1 and 6.6× 10-5 s-1） and different temperatures （500 and 550 ℃） to evaluate the influence of strain rate and temperature on the serrated flow behavior, which is the repetitive and discontinuous yielding phenomenon on the stress-strain curves. The higher temperature leads to the higher density of precipitates, M23C6 carbides and needle-like Mo2C carbides. It was found that the samples under tension test of 6.6 × 10-5 s-1 and 500 ℃ possess superior mechanical properties and mainly show A-type serrations on the tension test curves. Then, the local regress method was used to filter the DSA curves, thus to show the real trend of the curves. It has been found that the less time of interaction between dislocations and precipitates under higher strain rates leads to a higher strength of the sample. The more tiny-stress drops on the 550 ℃ serration curve can be attributed to the hardening phase, M23C6 carbides and needle-like Mo2C carbides. The higher percentage of the small stress drops on the serration curves represents the higher mechanical strength.

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.

Verification of Interpretation of Dynamic Strain Aging for Intermediate Temperature Embrittlement in Ni-Bi Alloy

Intermediate temperature embritttement （ITE） is a general phenomenon in Ni alloys and recently was interpreted by dynamic strain aging （DSA）. The relationship between ITE and DSA was studied by a binary Ni-Bi alloy. The experimental alloy of well-controlled purity was produced by vacuum induction inching and then heat-treated properly. Tensile tests were performed at various tensile temperatures, and the elongation at fracture was used to indicate the ductility. In order to identify the mechanisms of fracture and ITE, fracture morphologies of the samples of low ductility were observed by scanning electron microscopy. According to the tensile ductility, Ni-Bi alloy shows an obvious embrittlement behavior in the intermediate temperature range （700--750℃ ）. However, the stress strain curves of Ni-Bi alloy and the fracture morphologies indicate that DSA does not exist over the whole temperature range. Based on the experimental results and literatures, the interpretation of DSA was then discussed and proved to be invalid for elucidating the general feature of ITE in Ni-Bi alloy and Ni-based superalloys.

Dynamic Strain Aging in a Newly Developed Ni-Co-Base Superalloy with Low Stacking Fault Energy

Characteristics of dynamic strain aging （DSA） in a Ni-Co-base superalloy were studied by tensile tests at temperatures ranging from 250 ℃ to 550 ℃ and strain rates ranging from 3 x 10-5 to 8 x 10-4 s-1. Serrated flow in the tensile stress-strain curves was observed in the temperature range from 300 ℃ to 500 ℃. Normal DSA behavior was found at temperatures ranging from 300 ℃ to 350 ℃, while inverse DSA behavior was observed at temperatures ranging from 400 ℃ to 500 ℃. The yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, elongation, work hardening index, and fracture features were not affected by temperature and strain rates in DSA regime. Negative strain-rate sensitivity of flow stress was observed in DSA regime. The analysis suggests that the ordering of the substitutional solutes around some defects like mobile dislocations and stacking faults due to the thermal activated process may cause the serrations on the tensile curves.

Aging Behaviors of W-Ni-Fe Ternary Alloys with High Ni-to-Fe Ratios

The hardness variation of two kinds of alloys with 36 wt pct W content and 7/3, 9/1 Ni-to-Fe ratios during strain aging at 800℃ was studied. The microstructures of the aged alloys were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and TEM. The results show that the strain aging hardness of W-Ni-Fe ternary alloy with 7/3 Ni-to-Fe ratio decreases monotonically with the increase of aging time. Under the same conditions, the hardness of 9/1 Ni-to-Fe ratio alloy decreases in the initial aging stage, but then increases as aging process goes on. X ray diffraction and TEM analysis show that there is not any precipitation depositing from the alloy with 7/3 Ni-to-Fe ratio during aging. The monotonic decrease in hardness of this alloy during aging process results from the recovery, recrystallization and solid solubility declining. In the alloy of 9/1 Ni-to-Fe ratio, the fine β phase precipitates dispersively during aging which hardens the alloy. The two different kinds of mechanisms (the softening one and the hardening one) decide the hardness variation of the alloy with 9/1 Ni-to-Fe ratio mentioned above.

An overview of strain ageing in low carbon steels

Strain ageing in steel was first observed during the 19th century when the maximum load carrying capacity of a test piece was increased after it had been retested following a previous series of testing in a plastic range. Over the last decades, a great deal of research has been performed to gain deeper insights into the phenomenon of strain ageing. The synergistic development of theoretical hypothesis and new experimental evidences has promoted the understanding of the mechanisms underlying strain ageing. The content of this paper is organized into four components. First, we have compared the main theories developed in recent years. Second, we have summarized the metallurgical effects on the strain ageing behavior observed in experiments. Moreover, we have made an attempt to correlate the experimental results and the above-mentioned theories. Third, we have proposed a feasible solution to control strain ageing in low carbon steels. Finally, we have elaborated the potentiality of the atom probe technique in facilitating direct characterization of the distribution of solute atoms.

Deformation behaviour in advanced heat resistant materials during slow strain rate testing at elevated temperature

In this study, slow strain rate tensile testing at elevated temperature is used to evaluate the influence of temperature and strain rate on deformation behaviour in two different austenitic alloys. One austenitic stainless steel （AISI 316L） and one nickel-base alloy （Alloy 617） have been investigated. Scanning electron microscopy related techniques as electron channelling contrast imaging and electron backscattering diffraction have been used to study the damage and fracture micromechanisms. For both alloys the dominante damage micromech- anisms are slip bands and planar slip interacting with grain bounderies or precipitates causing strain concentrations. The dominante fracture micromechanism when using a slow strain rate at elevated temperature, is microcracks at grain bounderies due to grain boundery embrittlement caused by precipitates. The decrease in strain rate seems to have a small influence on dynamic strain ageing at 650℃.

Effects of strain ageing on the microstructures of microalloyed steels

This study investigates the microstructures of microalloyed steels before and after strain ageing treatment. It was found that the microstructure consisted of both lath ferrite and pearlite. Most of the carbides and/or nitrides of microalloying elements were distributed inside the grains with a small amount distributed at the grain boundaries. The precipitated phases inside the grains were much smaller in size than those at the grain boundaries. The precipitates are either circular or short bar-like,of sizes from a few nanometers to several hundred nanometers. After ageing,only carbon atoms segregate around the dislocations and nitrogen does not participate in producing the Cottrell atmosphere because it was fixed by alloying elements before ageing.

Study on the Deformation Behavior of Mg-3.6%Er Magnesium Alloy

The deformation behaviour of a casting Mg-3.6% Er magnesium alloy after T6 treatment was studied in tensile tests from room temperature to 450 ℃ under different strain rates ranging from 1.0 ×10^-4 to 6.0 × 10^-3 S^-1 Obtained local plateau in the temperature dependence of the ultimate strength （σb） and yield strength （σ0.2） under constant strain rate indicated the presence of dynamic strain ageing （DSA）. Serrated flow was observed at the temperature of 200, 250, and 300 ℃. The observed negative strain rate sensitivity suggested that the serrated flow behavior arose from DSA. The temperature and strain rate dependence of the critical strain for the onset of serrated flow was analyzed using a phenomenological DSA equation, and the apparent activation energy Q for the serrated flow was obtained by calculation.

Influence of solute cloud and precipitates on spatiotemporal characteristics of Portevin-Le Chatelier effect in A2024 aluminum alloys

In this paper, solute concentration and precipitate content in A2024 aluminum alloy are adjusted by solution treatment （ST） at different temperatures and tensile experiments on these treated specimens are carried out. It is found that the temperature of solution treatment （ST temperature） has a remarkable influence on the amplitude of the serrated flow and the propagation characteristics of shear bands. These results are due to the effects of solute atoms and precipitates on dynamic strain aging （DSA）. When ST temperature is higher than 300 ℃, solute concentration is relatively high and solute cloud is a key factor of DSA. When ST temperature is lower than 300 ℃, precipitate content is relatively high and the mechanism of DSA is determined by precipitates.

Deformation measurements of three types of Portevin-Le Chatelier bands

In this paper a technique based on high-speed digital photography and the digital speckle correlation （DSC） method is used for the quantitative measurement of the displacement and strain fields of various Portevin Le Chatelier （PLC） bands （types A, B, and C）. The experimental results clearly show the nucleation process of a type-B band and the propagation of a type-A band. The results also reveal that there exists an elastic shrinkage deformation outside a PLC band during a large avalanche-like deformation inside the PLC band.

Effect of solute concentration on the serrated flow in solution-treated Al-4%Cu alloys

In order to compare with annealed Al-4%Cu alloys, the influence of solute concentration on the serrated flow is investigated by solution treatment. In this paper, some dynamic parameters, such as critical time and the ultimate tensile strength are obtained. Moreover, the change of the strain rate range for serrated flow in Al-4%Cu alloys prepared by annealing and quenching heat treatments is reported too. The difference between them is attributed to the increasing solute concentration in the bulk of the solution treated materials.