Ultrafine Grained Structure Formation in Low Carbon Steel Processed by SPD

The present work deals with grain refinement in low carbon steel (AISI 1010) by severe plastic deformation (SPD). The effect of structure modification was evaluated with respect to thermomechanical (TM) treatment of steel prior to SPD. The grain refinement was accomplished during warm angular channel pressing (ECAP) at 300°C. The evolution of microstructure during equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) was studied using SEM and TEM of thin foils. Ultrafine-grained structure development is described in relation to strainintroduced. At lower strain applied, the subgrain and/or polygonized structure was frequently found. Due to increased deformation temperature, the dynamic recovery contributed to structure refinement in both structural states. The amount of high angle boundaries increased with higher ECAP strain and was higher in TM-processed steel. There was only an indistinctive difference in structure refinement, considering different initial structures of the steel.The deformation behaviour of UFG steel in dependence on processing conditions was evaluated by a tensile test and correlated with structural characteristics.