Effect of a Continuous Annealing Temperature on the Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and Texture of Annealed Drawn and Ironed Plate

To improve the production process and produce high-quality annealed drawn and ironed (DI) plate, continuous annealing experiments were carried out at 620 °C, 640 °C, 680 °C, and 720 °C, and the effect of a continuous annealing temperature on the microstructure, mechanical characteristics, and texture of annealed DI plate were clarified. The microstructure was tested with a scanning electron microscope (SEM); the mechanical properties and weighted average of the plastic strain ratio (r¯) were measured using a tension test; and the texture characterizations were tested by X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results reveal that, with the increase of the annealing temperature, the average grain size grew from 5.14 μm to 6.56 μm, the yield strength and tensile strength decreased, and the elongation increased. The rolling textures drastically reduced after annealing. When annealed at a lower temperature of 620 °C, the texture content of {111} <110> was the highest. When the annealing temperature increased to 640 °C, 680 °C and 720 °C, the texture content of {111} <112> was higher than that of {111} <110>. The mechanical properties of the DI plate that was annealed at 640 °C are the best, with a higher r¯ value and a lower planar anisotropy value.

Influence of specimen geometry and strain rate on elongation in tensile testing of packaging steel

Packaging steel is characterized by low thickness (0.1 mm – 0.5 mm) and ferritic microstructure resulting from low carbon contents. In combination with continuous annealing processes and temper rolling, this results in only little elongation observed in tensile tests. However, as in real forming processes much higher deformation occurs, it is important to receive true stress-true strain data up to a highest possible level e.g. to characterize material for finite element analysis. Therefore, tensile tests with three different measuring lengths (80 mm, 50 mm, 20 mm) were conducted for the packaging steel TH415. Likewise, the testing speed was reduced to investigate the possibility to receive more elongation under the condition of a constant stress level. The results revealed a significant increase in elongation when using smaller tensile test geometries. As well, the reduction in testing speed leads to much higher elongation while showing only little strain rate influence. While for the 80 mm geometry and standard speed no homogenous forming condition could be reached due to early failure before Lüders strain, this could be improved by using smaller testing specimens and a lower strain rate. Combining the influence of strain rate and geometry a significant increase of more than ten percentage points in elongation was reached.

Mechanism of Solid-State Amorphization in the Fe-Si-Cu-Mg-O System

Solid-state amorphization process occurring at 600-1060 °C continuous annealing was observed by non-ambient x-ray diffraction on Fe-3%Si-0.5%Cu alloy surface with MgO as thermostable coating. The phenomenon was occurred at α→γ transformation temperatures (920-960 °C) in a layer consisting of Si solid solution in α-Fe and oxides (MgFe)2SiO4, (MgFe)O, SiO2. Amorphous state remained both during heating and cooling to 20 °C. Simulation for diffusion amorphization of Fe (Si) solid solution was proposed. Mg2Si complexes are reduced from oxides by hydrogen then transfer to solid solution and solid-state amorphization is occurred.

The effect of low-temperature annealing on discordance of U–Pb zircon ages

Discordant U–Pb data of zircon are commonly attributed to Pb loss from domains with variable degree of radiation damage that resulted from α-decay of U and Th, which often complicates the correct age interpretation of the sample. Here we present U–Pb zircon data from 23 samples of ca. 1.7–1.9 Ga granitoid rocks in and around the Siljan impact structure in central Sweden. Our results show that zircon from rocks within the structure that form an uplifted central plateau lost significantly less radiogenic Pb compared to zircon grains in rocks outside the plateau. We hypothesize that zircon in rocks within the central plateau remained crystalline through continuous annealing of crystal structure damages induced from decay of U and Th until uplifted to the surface by the impact event ca. 380 Ma ago. In contrast, zircon grains distal to the impact have accumulated radiation damage at shallow and cool conditions since at least 1.26 Ga, making them vulnerable to fluid-induced Pb-loss. Our data are consistent with studies on alpha recoil and fission tracks, showing that annealing in zircon occurs at temperatures as low as 200–250 °C. Zircon grains from these samples are texturally simple, i.e., neither xenocrysts nor metamorphic overgrowths have been observed. Therefore, the lower intercepts obtained from regression of variably discordant zircon data are more likely recording the age of fluid-assisted Pb-loss from radiation-damaged zircon at shallow levels rather than linked to regional magmatic or tectonic events.

The Significance of Optimizing Mn-Content in Tuning the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of δ-TRIP Steels

The δ-TRIP steel has attracted a lot of attention for its potential application in automotive components, owing to the low density, good combination of strength, and ductility. As the difficulty in yield strength further increasement is caused by large fraction ferrite, the work hardening ability was enhanced by optimizing the manganese (Mn)-content in this study. Three δ-TRIP steels with different manganese (Mn)-content were designed to explore the significant effect of Mn content on the work hardening behavior in order to develop high strength steel suitable for the industrial continuous annealing process. The detailed effect of Mn on microstructure evolution and deformation behavior was studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM), interrupted tensile tests, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and in-situ electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). The study suggested that 2 Mn steel has the lowest degree of bainitic transformation, as a result of fine grain size of prior austenite. The large TRIP effect and dislocation strengthening improve the work hardening rate, resulting in 2 Mn steel exhibiting comparable mechanical properties with the QP980 steels. The retained austenite in 1.5 Mn steel progressively transformed into martensite and sustained the strain to a high strain value of 0.40, showing a good strength-ductility balance.

Cyclic annealing versus continuous annealing of 20 wt.% chromium white cast iron

To destabilize as-cast microstructure of 20 wt.% chromium white iron, cyclic annealing involving repeated austenitization for short duration of 0.6 h at 900, 950, 1000, 1050 and 1100 °C followed by forced air cooling is conducted as an alternative to continuous annealing requiring austenitization for longer period of 4–6 h at the said temperatures followed by furnace cooling. Continuous austenitization destabilizes the austenite matrix through precipitation of secondary carbides and transforms the alloy depleted austenite to pearlite on furnace cooling, thereby reducing the as-cast hardness from HV 669 to HV466. In contrast, repeated austenitization not only destabilizes the austenite matrix through precipitation of secondary carbides followed by its transformation to martensite on forced air cooling, but also causes disintegration of longer eutectic carbides to shorter segments with subsequent increase in hardness to as high as HV 890. Notched impact toughness after both continuous and cyclic annealing remains uniformly at 12.0 J as compared to as-cast value of 6.0 J. Besides, an unexpected rise in abrasive wear resistance after cyclic annealing treatment makes the alloy superior than that obtained by continuous annealing treatment as practiced in industries.