Deformation behaviour of ultrafine grained steel produced by cold rolling of martensite

An ultrafine grained Nb microalloyed steel was produced by cold rolling of martensite followed by annealing heat treatments at different times to study its effect on the microstructure and mechanical behaviour of the ultrafine grained steel. High strength was achieved by this thermomechanical processing due to the formation of cell and subgrain dislocation substructure; however annealing reduced both strength and elongation.

Variant selection and intervariant crystallographic planes distribution in martensite in a Ti-6Al-4V alloy

The transformation texture was studied in a Ti-6Al-4V alloy for two microstructures produced through different phase transformation mechanisms (i.e. diffusional vs. displacive). Both microstructures revealed qualitatively similar crystallographic texture characteristics, having two main texture components with Euler angles of (90°, 90°, 0°) and (90°, 30°, 0°). However, the overall α texture strength was considerably weaker in the martensitic structure (i.e. displacive mechanism) compared with the α + β microstructure produced through slow cooling (i.e. diffusional mechanism). The intervariant boundary distribution in martensite mostly revealed five misorientations associated with the Burgers orientation relationship. The five-parameter boundary analysis also showed a very strong interface plane orientation texture, with interfaces terminated mostly on the prismatic planes {hki0}, when misorientation was ignored. The highest intervariant boundary populations belonged to the 63.26°/[10 553 ] and 60°/[112 0] misorientations, with length fractions of 0.38 and 0.3, respectively. The former was terminated on (41 3 0), and the latter was a symmetric tilt boundary, terminated on (1 011). The intervariant plane distribution in martensite was determined more by the constraints of the phase transformation than by the relative interface energies.

Numerical investigation of influence of the Martensite Volume Fraction on dp steels fracture behavior on the basis of digital material representation model

Development of the methodology for creating reliable digital material representation (DMR) models of dual-phase steels and investigation of influence of the martensite volume fraction on fracture behavior under tensile load are the main goals of the paper. First, an approach based on image processing algorithms for creating a DMR is described. Then, obtained digital microstructures are used as input for the numerical model of deformation, which takes into account mechanisms of ductile fracture. Ferrite and martensite material model parameters are evaluated on the basis of micropillar compression tests. Finally, the model is used to investigate the impact of the martensite volume fraction on the DP steel behavior under plastic deformation. Results of calculations are presented and discussed in the paper.

Strain partitioning in dual-phase steels containing tempered martensite

Tempering has been used as a method to develop a range of dual phase steels with the same martensite morphology and volume fraction, but containing phases with different relative strengths. These steels were used to examine the strain partitioning between the two constituent phases experimentally through mechanical testing and numerically through finite element modelling. It was found that increasing the differential in strength between the two phases not only produces regions of high strain, but also regions of low strain. On average, a larger difference in strength between the phases increased the strain carried by the softer phase. There was no discernible preferential strain localisation to the ferrite/martensite interface, with the regions of strain localisation being determined by the morphology of the microstructure. A direct correlation between the average strain in the ferrite, and the measured ductility has been found. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Effect of martensite volume fraction on low cycle fatigue behaviour of dual phase steels: experimental and microstructural investigation

The low cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviour of a dual phase (DP) steel with different martensite volume fractions has been investigated, with particular focus on fatigue life, cyclic hardening/softening behaviour and microstructural evolution. DP steels with martensite volume fractions between 13% and 88% were produced and their monotonic and cyclic deformation behaviours evaluated. The LCF life has been examined in depth and compared with published literature. It has been concluded that, once normalised for plastic strain amplitude, the fatigue life was found to be significantly reduced by an increase in the martensite volume fraction. All alloys were observed to show some initial cyclic hardening followed by cyclic softening. Clear sub-cell formation occurred in ferrite grains irrespective of the martensite volume fraction, and it is suggested that this cell formation and martensite softening are responsible for the cyclic softening behaviour.

Effect of martensite morphology on low cycle fatigue behaviour of dual phase steels: Experimental and microstructural investigation

The low cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviour of a dual phase (DP) steel with different martensite morphologies has been investigated in the present work. DP steels with coarse martensite morphologies show inferior LCF life in comparison with fine martensite morphologies for all martensite volume fractions examined. It is suggested that this is be due to the development of larger local plastic strain concentrations in the ferrite with a coarser microstructure, compared to the finer microstructural morphology. Fatigue cracks were observed to initiate inside ferrite grains, and to preferentially propagate through the softer ferrite phase. The average sub-cell size was finer in samples with higher martensite volume fractions, but the sub-cell size was almost unaffected by the martensite morphology.

Yielding behaviour of martensite in steel

Although martensite is recognised as a very strong phase in carbon steels, its initial yielding commences at low stresses and the tensile stress-strain curve shows a smooth, rounded form. Evidence is presented from x-ray diffraction to show that this behaviour is due to the presence of intra-granular stresses that are residues after the shear transformation from austenite to martensite. These internal stresses are reduced in magnitude by plastic deformation and also by tempering. Reduction of internal stress due to plasticity is shown by a decrease in XRD line broadening after deformation. A simple model is presented in which the stress-strain behaviour is controlled by relaxation of the internal stresses almost up to the point of the ultimate tensile strength. It demonstrates that only a very small fraction of the material remaining in a purely elastic state provides a large stabilising effect resisting necking. A corollary of this is that the uniform elongation of martensitic steel actually increases with increase in the strength level. Effects of heat treatment are also reproduced in the model, including the increase in conventional yield stress (Rp0.2) that occurs after low temperature tempering.