A preliminary study on machinability of super austenitic stainless steel

Stainless steel is the most widely used alloys of steel. The reputed variety of stainless steel having customised material properties as per the design requirements is Duplex Stainless Steel and Austenitic Stainless Steel. The Austenite Stainless Steel alloy has been developed further to be Super Austenitic Stainless Steel (SASS) by increasing the percentage of the alloying elements to form the half or more than the half of the material composition. SASS (Grade-AL-6XN) is an alloy steel containing high percentages of nickel (24%), molybdenum (6%) and chromium (21%). The chemical elements offer high degrees of corrosion resistance, toughness and stability in a large range of hostile environments like petroleum, marine and food processing industries. SASS is often used as a commercially viable substitute to high cost non-ferrous or non-metallic metals. The ability to machine steel effectively and efficiently is of utmost importance in the current competitive market. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the machinability of SASS which has been a classified material so far with very limited research conducted on it. Understanding the machinability of this alloy would assist in the effective forming of this material by metal cutting. The novelty of research associated with this is paper is reasonable taking into consideration the unknowns involved in machining SASS. The experimental design consists of conducting eight milling trials at combination of two different feed rates, 0.1 and 0.15 mm/tooth; cutting speeds, 100 and 150 m/min; Depth of Cut (DoC), 2 and 3 mm and coolant on for all the trials. The cutting tool has two inserts and therefore has two cutting edges. The trial sample is mounted on a dynamometer (type 9257B) to measure the cutting forces during the trials. The cutting force data obtained is later analyzed using DynaWare supplied by Kistler. The machined sample is subjected to surface roughness (Ra) measurement using a 3D optical surface profilometer (Alicona Infinite Focus). A comprehensive metallography process consisting of mounting, polishing and etching was conducted on a before and after machined sample in order to make a comparative analysis of the microstructural changes due to machining. The microstructural images were capture using a digital microscope. The microhardness test were conducted on a Vickers scale (Hv) using a Vickers microhardness tester. Initial bulk hardness testing conducted on the material show that the alloy is having a hardness of 83.4 HRb. This study expects an increase in hardness mostly due to work hardening may be due to phase transformation. The results obtained from the cutting trials are analyzed in order to judge the machinability of the material. Some of the criteria used for machinability evaluation are cutting force analysis, surface texture analysis, metallographic analysis and microhardness analysis. The methodology followed in each aspect of the investigation is similar to and inspired by similar research conducted on other materials. However, the novelty of this research is the investigation of various aspects of machinability and drawing comparisons between each other while attempting to justify each result obtained to the microstructural changes observed which influence the behaviour of the alloy. Due to the limited scope of the paper, machinability criteria such as chip morphology, Metal Removal Rate (MRR) and tool wear are not included in this paper. All aspects are then compared and the optimum machining parameters are justified with a scope for future investigations

Understanding temperature and contact pressure in hot stamped channels

This paper investigates the temperature and contact pressure conditions in hot stamped channels of boron steel. Hot stamping has been used for many years to produce high strength structural auto-motive components. The high tensile strengths achievable by hot stamping is beneficial where the intrusion during a vehicle crash is not desirable – e.g. for the vehicle occupant compartment. How-ever, the high blank temperatures and high temperature cycling causes a large amount of wear in the tooling. These conditions have led to high tool failures and die maintenance costs. Thus, un-derstanding the main causes of wear behaviour in the hot stamping process is of high interest to hot stampers.
To this aim, a generic 2D thermo-mechanical finite element model of a hat-shaped crash formed hot stamped component was developed (based on the authors previous hot stamp model), and a modified phase transformation model based on Scheil’s additive principle has been applied. The model was created in the finite element software ABAQUS Standard V6.13, including convection and radiation when the component was transferred from furnace to the tool as well as the air-cooling process. A USDFLD subroutine was used to model the phase transformation and a HET-VAL subroutine was used to model the latent heat. Contact heat conductance was a function of the pressure.
The authors have used techniques from their previous work on tool wear estimation for cold stamping to estimate the contact pressure on the tooling, and the amount of sliding that occurs over the tooling, and the corresponding tooling temperature. This data provides a unique data set to understand the wear on the tooling, and will eventually lead to a model for estimating tooling life.

The crash behaviour of hot stamped components – the effect of tailoring conditions

It is known that tailoring a hot stamping part, to achieve locally graded properties, can improve the crash behavior. Depending on the role of the structural part (carrying either bending or axial crash load), the best position for the local regions with lower strength and higher ductility can be different. The distribution of these local regions and their mechanical properties affects the crash behavior of the part in each loading case and therefore can be effectively designed to improve the crash performance. To investigate these effects and examine the improvement possibilities, a numerical thermalmechanical-metallurgical model of a hot stamping process and a representative side impact crash model were created and analysed. The hot stamping model was used to predict the consequent phase fractions and mechanical properties of tailored hot stamping parts produced with different tailoring scenarios. In the metallurgical model, a modified phase transformation model based on Scheil’s additive principle was incorporated. The geometry and mesh of the stamped part was exported to a crash numerical model with a 3-point bending configuration. A constitutive model was used to define the plastic behavior of the stamped part corresponding to different hardness values. Various possibilities in locally positioning the high strength or high ductility zones of material were examined. The results show that the positioning of the soft zones has a more significant effect on the crash performance than the variation in their mechanical properties of these soft zones.

Microstructure and hardness evolution during simulated coiling of a direct strip cast low carbon low niobium steel

This paper examines the impact of coiling temperature and duration on the phase transformation and precipitation behavior of a low carbon and low niobium direct strip cast steel. Coiling was performed at three carefully chosen temperatures: (1) in the ferrite (600°C), (2) during the austenite decomposition (700°C) and (3) in the austenite (850°C). The coiling conditions were found to strongly affect the final microstructure and hardness response, thus highlighting the necessity to judiciously design the coiling treatment. Optical microscopy, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the microstructural constituents (polygonal ferrite, bainite and pearlite) and the NbC precipitates. Vickers macrohardness measurements are utilized to quantify the mechanical properties. The differences in hardening kinetics for the three different temperatures are shown to come from a complex combination of strengthening contributions.

The role of thermomechanical routes on the distribution of grain boundary and interface plane orientations in transformed microstructures

In the current study, a series of thermomechanical routes were used to produce different microstructures (i.e., ferrite and martensite) in low-carbon low alloy steels. The five-parameter grain boundary character distribution was measured for all microstructures. The thermomechanical processing route altered the texture of the fully ferritic microstructure and significantly influenced the anisotropy of the grain boundary character distribution. Generally, the population of (111) planes increased with an increase in the γ-fiber texture for the ferritic microstructure, but it did not change the shape of the grain boundary plane distribution at specific misorientations. The most commonly observed boundaries in the fully ferritic structures produced through different routes were {112} symmetric tilt boundaries with the Σ3 = 60 deg/[111] misorientation; this boundary also had a low energy. However, the grain boundary plane distribution was significantly changed by the phase transformation path (i.e., ferrite vs martensite) for a given misorientation. In the martensitic steel, the most populous Σ3 boundary was the {110} symmetric tilt boundary. This results from the crystallographic constraints associated with the shear transformation (i.e., martensite) rather than the low-energy interface that dominates in the diffusional phase transformation (i.e., ferrite).

Structural evolution of spark plasma sintered AlFeCuCrMgx (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.7) high entropy alloys

The present paper reports synthesis of novel AlFeCuCrMgx (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.7 mol) high entropy alloys (HEAs) by mechanical alloying (MA) followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). Phase evolution, microstructure and phase transformation study of the sintered alloy were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). XRD of the sintered alloys revealed the formation of two BCC phases in the AlFeCuCr alloy and more complex structures in AlFeCuCrMgx (x = 0.5, 1, 1.7) alloys containing AlFe type, BCC, and Cu2Mg type phases. TEM bright field image and selected area diffraction pattern (SAED) revealed the formation of tetragonal closed packed Cr precipitates within the Cu2Mg phase of AlFeCuCrMgx alloys (x = 0.5, 1, 1.7). DSC study of the alloys revealed no substantial phase change up to 1000 °C for AlFeCuCr alloy. Although, for x = 0.5, 1 & 1.7 phase transformation occurs at 818 °C, 885 °C & 483 °C respectively. Mg content had a significant effect on hardness, increasing to a peak hardness of 853 HVN for AlFeCuCrMg0.5 alloy before decreasing to 533 HVN for the AlFeCuCrMg1.7 alloy. The phase evolution in these alloys has been considered using thermodynamic parameters, and the structure-property relationship has also been proposed by conventional strengthening mechanisms.

The impact of retained austenite characteristics on the two-body abrasive wear behavior of ultrahigh strength bainitic steels

In the current study, a high-carbon, high-alloy steel (0.79 pct C, 1.5 pct Si, 1.98 pct Mn, 0.98 pct Cr, 0.24 pct Mo, 1.06 pct Al, and 1.58 pct Co in wt pct) was subjected to an isothermal bainitic transformation at a temperature range of 473 K to 623 K (200 °C to 350 °C), resulting in different fully bainitic microstructures consisting of bainitic ferrite and retained austenite. With a decrease in the transformation temperature, the microstructure was significantly refined from ~300 nm at 623 K (350 °C) to less than 60 nm at 473 K (200 °C), forming nanostructured bainitic microstructure. In addition, the morphology of retained austenite was progressively altered from film + blocky to an exclusive film morphology with a decrease in the temperature. This resulted in an enhanced wear resistance in nanobainitic microstructures formed at low transformation temperature, e.g., 473 K (200 °C). Meanwhile, it gradually deteriorated with an increase in the phase transformation temperature. This was mostly attributed to the retained austenite characteristics (i.e., thin film vs blocky), which significantly altered their mechanical stability. The presence of blocky retained austenite at high transformation temperature, e.g., 623 K (350 °C) resulted in an early onset of TRIPing phenomenon during abrasion. This led to the formation of coarse martensite with irregular morphology, which is more vulnerable to crack initiation and propagation than that of martensite formed from the thin film austenite, e.g., 473 K (200 °C). This resulted in a pronounced material loss for the fully bainitic microstructures transformed at high temperature, e.g., 623 K (350 °C), leading to distinct sub-surface layer and friction coefficient curve characteristics. A comparison of the abrasive behavior of the fully bainitic microstructure formed at 623 K (350 °C) and fully pearlitic microstructure demonstrated a detrimental effect of blocky retained austenite with low mechanical stability on the two-body abrasion.

Transmission electron microscopy characterization of the bake-hardening behavior of transformation-induced plasticity and dual-phase steels

The effect of prestraining (PS) and bake hardening (BH) on the microstructures and mechanical properties has been studied in transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) and dual-phase (DP) steels after intercritical annealing. The DP steel showed an increase in the yield strength and the appearance of the upper and lower yield points after a single BH treatment as compared with the as-received condition, whereas the mechanical properties of the TRIP steel remained unchanged. This difference appears to be because of the formation of plastic deformation zones with high dislocation density around the “as-quenched” martensite in the DP steel, which allowed carbon to pin these dislocations, which, in turn, increased the yield strength. It was found for both steels that the BH behavior depends on the dislocation rearrangement in ferrite with the formation of cell, microbands, and shear band structures after PS. The strain-induced transformation of retained austenite to martensite in the TRIP steel contributes to the formation of a complex dislocation structure.

Characterization of the bake-hardening behavior of transformation induced plasticity and dual-phase steels using advanced analytical techniques

The bake-hardening (BH) behavior of TRansformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) and Dual-Phase (DP) steels after intercritical annealing (IA) has been studied using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and three dimensional atom probe tomography. It was found for the DP steel that carbon can segregate to dislocations in the ferrite plastic deformation zones where there is a high dislocation density around the "asquenched" martensite. The carbon pinning of these dislocations, in turn, increases the yield strength after aging. It was shown that bake-hardening also leads to rearrangement of carbon in the martensite leading to the formation of rod-like low temperature carbides in the DP steel. Segregation of carbon to microtwins in retained austenite of the TRIP steel was also evident. These factors, in combination with the dislocation rearrangement in ferrite through the formation of cells and microbands in the TRIP steel after pre-straining, lead to the different bake-hardening responses of the two steels.

Phase and crystal orientation study of a TRansformation Induced Plasticity steel subjected to cyclic load induced fatigue

An electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) study of the microstructure of TRIP steel during fatigue failure. Phase and crystal orientation study of a TRIP steel subjected to cyclic load induced fatigue. The relative fractions of austenite, ferrite and martensite are quantified within the strain field of a fatigue crack tip. This data is a subset of data supporting a wider study of the fatigue properties of multiphase steels used in the automotive industry. The different microstructural phases present in these steels can influence the strain life and cyclic stabilized strength of the material due to the way in which these phases accommodate the applied cyclic strain. Fully reversed strain-controlled low-cycle fatigue tests have been used to determine the mechanical fatigue performance of a dual-phase (DP) 590 and transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) 780 steel, with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EBSD) used to examine the deformed microstructures .

Ultrafine grained structure formation in steels using dynamic strain induced transformation processing

The refinement of ferrite grain size is the most generally accepted approach to simultaneously improve the strength and toughness in steels. Historically, the level of ferrite refinement is limited to 5-10 μm using conventional industrial approaches. Nowadays, though, several thermomechanical processes have been developed to produce ferrite grain sizes of 1-3 μm or less, ranging from extreme thermal and deformation cycles to more typical thermomechanical processes. The present paper reviews the status of the production of ultrafine grained steels through relatively simple thermomechanical processing. This requires deformation within the Ae3 to Ar3 temperature range for a given alloy. Here, the formation of ultrafine ferrite (UFF) involves the dynamic transformation of a significant volume fraction of the austenite to ferrite. This dynamic strain induced transformation (DSIT) arises from the introduction of extensive intragranular nucleation sites that are not present in conventional controlled rolling. The DSIT route has the potential to be adjusted to suit current industrial infrastructure. However, there are a number of significant issues that have been raised, both as gaps in our understanding and as obstacles to industrial implementation. One of the critical issues is that it appears that very large strains are required. Combined with this concern is the issue of whether a combination of dynamic and static transformation can be used to achieve an adequate level of refinement. Another issue that has also become apparent is that grain sizes of 1 μm can lead to low levels of ductility and hence many workers are attempting to obtain 2-3 μm grains, or to introduce a second phase to provide the required ductility. There are also a number of areas of disagreement between authors including the role of dynamic recrystallisation of ferrite in the production of UFF by DSIT, the reasons for the low coarsening rate of UFF grains, the role of microalloying elements and the effects of austenite grain size and strain rate. The present review discusses these areas of controversy and highlights cases where experimental results do not agree.

Phase formation and physical properties of mechanically alloyed amorphous 55Mg35Ni1OSi

Amorphous 55Mg35Ni10Si alloy powder has been synthesized by mechanical alloying technique using pure Mg, Ni and Si elemental powders. The transformation of the crystalline powders into an amorphous one has been investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The new material produced has a higher thermal stability than reported results, which is beneficial to the fabrication of Mg–Ni–Si bulk amorphous components through powder metallurgy.

Dynamic pacing strategies during the cycle phase of an ironman triathlon

Introduction: A nonlinear dynamic systems model has previously been proposed to explain pacing strategies employed during exercise.

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the pacing strategies used under varying conditions during the cycle phase of an Ironman triathlon.

Methods: The bicycles of six well-trained male triathletes were equipped with SRM power meters set to record power output, cadence, speed, and heart rate. The flat, three-lap, out-and-back cycle course, coupled with relatively consistent wind conditions (17-30 km·h-1), enabled comparisons to be made between three consecutive 60-km laps and relative wind direction (headwind vs tailwind).

Results: Participants finished the cycle phase (180 km) with consistently fast performance times (5 h, 11 ± 2 min; top 10% of all finishers). Average power output (239 ± 25 to 203 ± 20 W), cadence (89 ± 6 to 82 ± 8 rpm), and speed (36.5 ± 0.8 to 33.1 ± 0.8 km·h-1) all significantly decreased with increasing number of laps (P < 0.05). These variables, however, were not significantly different between headwind and tailwind sections. The deviation (SD) in power output and cadence did not change with increasing number of laps; however, the deviations in torque (6.8 ± 1.6 and 5.8 ± 1.3 N·m) and speed (2.1 ± 0.5 and 1.6 ± 0.3 km·h-1) were significantly greater under headwind compared with tailwind conditions, respectively. The median power frequency tended to be lower in headwind (0.0480 ± 0.0083) compared with tailwind (0.0531 ± 0.0101) sections.

Conclusion: These data show evidence that a nonlinear dynamic pacing strategy is used by well-trained triathletes throughout various segments and conditions of the Ironman cycle phase. Moreover, an increased variation in torque and speed was found in the headwind versus the tailwind condition.

A novel approach for real mass transformation from V2O5 particles to nanorods

A solid-state, mass-quantity transformation from V2O5 powders to nanorods has been realized via a two-step approach. The nanorods were formed through a controlled nanoscale growth from the nanocrystalline V2O5 phase created by a ball milling treatment. The nanorods grow along the [010] direction and are dominated by {001} surfaces. Surface energy minimization and surface diffusion play important roles in their growth mechanism. Real large quantity production can be achieved when the annealing process is conducted in a fluidized bed which can treat large quantities of the milled materials at once. The crystal orientation of nanorods provides an improved cycling stability for lithium intercalation.