Vanadium microalloying for ultra-high strength steel sheet treated by hot-dip metallising

Ultra-high strength steel sheets have been subjected to heat treatments that simulate the thermal cycles in hot-dip galvanising and galvannealing processes and evaluated with respect to their resulting mechanical properties and microstructures. The steels contained suitable contents of carbon (∼0.2%), manganese (1.2%) and chromium (0.4%) to ensure that they could be fully transformed to martensite after austenitisation followed by rapid cooling in a continuous annealing line, prior to galvanising. Different contents of vanadium (0–0.1%) and nitrogen (0.002–0.012%) were used to investigate the possible role of these microalloying elements on the strength of the tempered martensite. Vanadium, especially when in combination with a raised nitrogen content, helps to resist the effect of tempering so that a larger proportion of the initial strengthening is preserved after the galvanising cycle, giving tensile strength levels exceeding 1000 MPa. Different deoxidation practices using aluminium or silicon have also been included. These showed similar strength levels at corresponding carbon contents but the bendability of the Si-killed steel sheet was considerably superior. Microstructural examinations have been made on the annealed steels but the reason for the beneficial effect of vanadium is still not fully explained. It is concluded that microalloying with vanadium is a very promising approach in the development of corrosion-resistant ultra-high strength steel sheet products.

Experimental study of strain fields during shearing of medium and high-strength steel sheet

There is a shortage of experimentally determined strains during sheet metal shearing. These kinds of data are a requisite to validate shearing models and to simulate the shearing process. In this work, strain fields were continuously measured during shearing of a medium and a high strength steel sheet, using digital image correlation. Preliminary studies based on finite element simulations, suggested that the effective surface strains are a good approximation of the bulk strains below the surface. The experiments were performed in a symmetric set-up with large stiffness and stable tool clearances, using various combinations of tool clearance and clamping configuration. Due to large deformations, strains were measured from images captured in a series of steps from shearing start to final fracture. Both the Cauchy and Hencky strain measures were considered, but the difference between these were found negligible with the number of increments used (about 20 to 50). Force-displacement curves were also determined for the various experimental conditions. The measured strain fields displayed a thin band of large strain between the tool edges. Shearing with two clamps resulted in a symmetric strain band whereas there was an extended area with large strains around the tool at the unclamped side when shearing with one clamp. Furthermore, one or two cracks were visible on most of the samples close to the tool edges well before final fracture. The fracture strain was larger for the medium strength material compared with the high-strength material and increased with increasing clearance.

Springback data from stamping and simulating the forming of advanced high strength steel

This dataset is comprised of a spreadsheet of simulation result files, cross-section geometries of stamped parts, strain results of cross-section of stamped parts, simulation data (strain stress displacement energies), and variation data of material properties of a single coil. This data is a collection of both experimental and simulation results from industrial and laboratory stamping of advanced high strength steels (AHSS). The steels that were stamped were a typical high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel, a transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steel, a super HSLA steel, and a dual phase (DP) steel. The selected part was an automatic Ford Falcon front cross-member component using the Ford Geelong stamping plant. The variation of the material and stamped parts was also collected.

Experimental tests on structural members fabricated from high strength steel materials

Typical high strength steels (HSS) have exceptional high strengths with improved weldability making the material attractive in modern steel constructions. However, due to lack of understanding, most of the current steel design standards are limited to conventional low strength steels (LSS, i.e. fy ≤ 450 MPa). This paper presents the details of full-scale experimental tests on short beams fabricated from BISPLATE80 HSS materials (nominal fy = 690 MPa). The various slenderness ratios of the plate elements in the test specimens were chosen in the range near the current yield limit (AS4100-1998, etc.). The experimental studies presented in this paper have produced a better understanding of the structural behaviour of HSS members subjected to local instabilities. Comparisons have also presented in the paper regarding to the design predictions from the current steel standards (AS4100-1998). This study has enabled to provide a series of proposals for proper assessment of plate slenderness limits for structural members made of representative HSS materials. This research work also enables the inclusion of further versions in the steel design specifications for typical HSS materials to be used in buildings and bridges. This paper also presents a distribution model of residual stresses in the longitudinal direction for typical HSS I-sections.

Effects of tempered structure on the near threshold fatigue crack growth behavior of a coarse grained high strength steel

Near threshold fatigue crack growth behavior of a high strength steel under different temper levels was investigated. It is found that the observed variations in ΔKth could predominantly be attributed to roughness induced crack closure. The closure-free component of the threshold stress intensity range, ΔKeff,th showed a systematic variation with monotonic yield strength.

Micromechanics Of Fatigue Crack-Growth At Low Stress Intensities In A High-Strength Steel

An attempt to systematically investigate the effects of microstructural parameters in influencing the resistance to fatigue crack growth (FCG) in the near-threshold region under three different temper levels has been made for a high strength low alloy steel to observe in general, widely different trends in the dependence of both the total threshold stress intensity range, DELTA-K(th) and the intrinsic or effective threshold stress intensity range, DELTA-K(eff-th) on the prior austenitic grain size (PAGS). While a low strain hardening microstructure obtained by tempering at high temperatures exhibited strong dependence of DELTA-K(th) on the PAGS by virtue of strong interactions of crack tip slip with the grain boundary, a high strength, high strain hardening microstructure as a result of tempering at low temperature exhibited a weak dependence. The lack of a systematic variation of the near-threshold parameters with respect to grain size in temper embrittled structures appears to be related to the wide variations in the amount of intergranular fracture near threshold. Crack closure, to some extent provides a basis on which the increases in DELTA-K(th) at larger grain sizes can be rationalised. This study, in addition, provides a wide perspective on the relative roles of slip behaviour embrittlement and environment that result in the different trends observed in the grain size dependence of near-threshold fatigue parameters, based on which the inconsistency in the results reported in the literature can be clearly understood. Assessment of fracture modes through extensive fractography revealed that prior austenitic grain boundaries are effective barriers to cyclic crack growth compared to martensitic packet boundaries, especially at low stress intensities. Fracture morphologies comprising of low energy flat transgranular fracture can occur close to threshold depending on the combinations of strain hardening behaviour, yield strength and embrittlement effects. A detailed consideration is given to the discussion of cyclic stress strain behaviour, embrittlement and environmental effects and the implications of these phenomena on the crack growth behaviour near threshold.

Hydrogen permeation and corrosion behaviour of high strength steel 35CrMo under cyclic wet-dry conditions

Hydrogen permeation behaviours of high strength steel 35CrMo under different cyclic wet-dry conditions have been investigated by using Devanathan-Stachurski's technique. Four electrolytes were used: distilled water, seawater, seawater containing 1500 ppm H2S and seawater containing 0.03 mol L-1 SO2. The corrosion weight loss of 35CrMo in the wet-dry cycles was measured simultaneously. The experimental results show that hydrogen can be detected at the surface opposite to the corroding side of the specimen during wet-dry cycles and the permeation current density during a wet-dry cycle showed a maximum during the drying process. The hydrogen permeation was obviously promoted by Cl- ions, H2S and SO2. The hydrogen permeation in the real marine atmosphere has also been investigated. There is a clear correlation between the amount of hydrogen permeated and the corrosion weight losses. Results show the importance of hydrogen permeation that merits further investigation.

The mechanical characterization of low work hardening, high strength steel

One of the major challenges in assessing the mechanical properties of recovery annealed steel is the strain localization that occurs almost immediately on the formation of the first Lüders band, such that no or limited propagation of the Lüders band occurs along the tensile coupon. The stress raiser associated with the geometry of the standard tensile coupon means that this plastic deformation is often completely outside the standard extensometers on the coupon. Hence, no strain is measured during the test. While this is not important for assessing the tensile strength of the steel, it does mean that the strain related properties, such as the elastic limit of the steel, cannot be measured using standard testing techniques.This work addresses this issue by examining three techniques for ensuring that the strain occurs inside the extensometer. It is shown that the best technique is the extended extensometer, where the gauge length covers slightly more than the tensile coupon parallel length. While this leads to some variation in the width of the material being measured, compensation can be be made by adjusting the strain to correct the Young's Modulus.This technique has direct implications not just for recovery annealed steels, but for other high strength, low work hardening materials such as ultrafine ferrite. A particular requirement of these high strength steels in structural applications is a high elastic limit; hence, measurement of the strain related properties for these high strength materials must be considered vital in their mechanical assessment.

Experimental and numerical evaluation of forming and fracture behaviour of high strength steel

Car manufacturers are under pressure to reduce vehicle mass while maintaining comfort and passenger safety for current and future vehicles. To meet this demand the steel industry has developed Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) that promise higher strength and improved formability compared to conventional steel grades. Even though significant research has already been performed to evaluate the material properties and forming behaviour of most AHSS types, only a limited literature is available on their necking and fracture behaviour and the effect on formability. This paper examines and compares the thinning, necking and fracture behaviour of two AHSS and one conventional steel type, namely TRIP, DP and HSLA. Uniaxial, plane and biaxial strain conditions are investigated by tensile, cup drawing and stretch forming tests and by using numerical methods. The test results indicate that significant differences exist in necking and fracture behaviour between all three steel types.