Compressive deformation behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy under quasi-static and dynamic loading

Compressive properties of AZ31 alloy were investigated at temperatures from room temperature to 543 K and at strain rates from 10-3to 2×10 4s-1.The results show that the compressive behavior and deformation mechanism of AZ31 depend largely on the temperature and strain rate.The flow stress increases with the increase of strain rate at fixed temperature,while decreases with the increase of deformation temperature at fixed strain rate.At low temperature and quasi-static condition,the true stress-true strain curve of AZ31 alloy can be divided into three stages(strain hardening,softening and stabilization) after yielding.However,at high temperature and high strain rate,the AZ31 alloy shows ideal elastic-plastic properties.It is therefore suggested that the change in loading conditions(temperature and strain rate) plays an important role in deformation mechanisms of AZ31 alloy.     

Effect of Temperature on Grain Size in AA6063 Aluminum Alloy Subjected to Repetitive Corrugation and Straightening

The influence of processing temperature on grain size reduction in AA 6063 aluminum alloy subjected to repetitive corrugation and straightening(RCS)is investigated in this work.The aluminum alloy was processed by RCS at different temperatures(room temperature,100 ℃,200 ℃ and 300 ℃)till the maximum number of passes possible before failure and the mechanical properties such as tensile strength and hardness were measured.The grain size and their misorientation of grains of the processed samples were analyzed using the electron backscattered diffraction.The results indicated that the transformation of low-angle grain boundaries to high-angle grain boundaries and dislocation tangles were highly dependent on the strain imparted,which could be controlled by selecting the proper processing temperature.As a result,the mechanical properties are affected.In particular,the room temperature tensile strength and hardness values of the processed material decrease with increasing processing temperature.     

Unique microstructure and property of a 2024 aluminum alloy subjected to upsetting extrusion multiple processing

The microstructure and hardness of a 2024 aluminum alloy subjected to multi-pass upsetting extrusion at ambient temperature were studied. Experimental results indicated that with the number of upsetting extrusion passes increasing, the grains of the alloy are gradually refined and the hardness increases correspondingly. After ten passes of upsetting extrusion processing, the grain size decreases to less than 200 nm in diameter and the sample maintains its original shape, while the hardness is double owing to equal-axial ultrafine grains and work hardening effect caused by large plastic deformation.     

Flow behavior and microstructure evolution during hot compression of TA 15 titanium alloy

The samples of TAI 5 titanium alloy were hot compressed in the temperature range of 550-1 000 β at constant strain rate from 0.01 s^-1 to 1.0 s^-1. The flow behavior and microstructural evolution during hot deformation of TA 15 alloy were investigated, based on which the hot working parameters of TA15 alloy were selected. The results show that with the increase of deformation temperature and decrease of stain rate, the flow stress decreases gradually, but the magnitude of stress drop varies with the increase of temperature in different temperature intervals. According to the flow stress and deformation microstructure, the deformation behavior can be classified into three types as working hardening（550-600 β, α＋β phase）, dynamic recrystallization （650-900 ℃, α＋β phase） and dynamic recovery（950-1 000 ℃, β phase）. The main softening mechanism is dynamic recrystallization（DRX） of a phase in α＋β phase zone and dynamic recovery（DRV） of β phase in β phase zone. As the stain rate decreases dynamic recrystallization of a phase proceeds more adequately in α＋β zone and the β subgrains of dynamic recovery have the tendency to grow infl zone. The reasonable temperature for warm forming of TA15 alloy is in the range of 600-700 , which has been verified by warm spinning experiment of tube workpieces.：     

Influence of hot extrusion on microstructure and mechanical properties ofAZ31 magnesium alloy

Extrusion treatment is a common method to refine the grain size and improve the mechanical properties of metal material. The influence of hot extrusion on microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ31 magnesium alloy was investigated. The results ,show that the mechanical properties of AZ31 alloy are obviously improved by extrusion treatment. The ultimate tensile strength （UTS） of AZ31 alloy at room temperature is measured to be 222 MPa, and is enhanced to 265.8 MPa after extrusion at 420℃. The yield tensile strength （YTS） of AZ31 alloy at room temperature is measured to be 84 MPa, and is enhanced to 201 MPa after extrusion at 420℃. The effective improvements on mechanical properties result from the formation of the finer grains during extrusion and the finer particles precipitated by age treatment. The features of the microstructure evolution during hot extruded of AZ31 alloy are dislocation slipping on the matrix and occurrence of the dynamic recrystallization.     

Effect of deformation temperature on the hot compressive behavior of metal matrix composites with misaligned whiskers

A multi-inclusion cell model is used to investigate the effect of deformation temperature and whisker rotation on the hot compressive behavior of metal matrix composites with misaligned whiskers. Numerical results show that deformation temperature influences the work-hardening behavior of the matrix and the rotation behavior of the whiskers. With increasing temperature, the work hardening rate of the matrix decreases, but the whisker rotation angle increases. Both whisker rotation and the increase of deformation temperature can induce reductions in the load supported by whisker and the load transferred from matrix to whisker. Additionally, it is found that during large strain deformation at higher temperatures, the enhancing of deformation temperature can reduce the effect of whisker rotation. Meanwhile, the stress-strain behavior of the composite is rather sensitive to deformation temperature. At a relatively lower temperature （150℃）, the composite exhibits work hardening due to the matrix work hardening, but at relatively higher temperatures （300℃ and above）, the composite shows strain softening due to whisker rotation. It is also found that during hot compression at higher temperatures, the softening rate of the composite decreases with increasing temperature. The predicted stress-strain behavior of the composite is approximately in agreement with the experimental results.     

Influence of Strain Rate on Tensile Characteristics of SUS304 Metastable Austenitic Stainless Steel

The microstructure characteristics and plastic deformation behavior of SUS304 metastable austenitic stainless steel sheets have been investigated during tensile process at different strain rates at room temperature. The yield stress continuously increases with strain rates due to low fraction of martensite transformed from austenite at 0.2% plastic stain. While the ultimate tensile stress （UTS） and elongation gradually decreases and then slightly increases with increase in strain rate from 0.0005 s-1 to 0.i s-1, which is attributed to the variation of the martensite fraction that is affected seriously by adiabatic heating. A higher temperature increase in the tensile specimens restricts the martensitic transformation at high strain rate. The strain rate of 0.1 s-1 is considered as a transition deformation rate from quasi-static state to plastic forming, where the transformed martensitic content is very small in a higher strain rate range. Anomalous stress peaks in the later half stage of deformation occur at a very low strain rate （i.e., 0.0005 s-1） result from X-shaped strain localization repeatedly sweeping over the specimen. With increasing strain rates, the variation of dimple number density follows similar trend as that of UTS and ductility because martensite fraction mostly influences void nucleation and growth.     

Hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of a Mg–Gd–Nd–Y–Zn alloy

The hot deformation behavior of homogenized Mg–6.5Gd–1.3Nd–0.7Y–0.3Zn alloy was investigated during compression at temperatures of 250–400 ℃ and at strain rates ranging from 0.001 to 0.100 s~(-1). Microstructure analyses show that the flow behaviors are associated with the deformation mechanisms. At the lower temperatures(250–300 ℃), deformation twinning is triggered due to the difficult activation of dislocation cross-slip. Dynamic recrystallization(DRX) accompanied by dynamic precipitation occurs at the temperature of 350 ℃ and influences the softening behavior of the flow.DRX that develops extensively at original grain boundaries is the main softening mechanism at the high temperature of 400 ℃ and eventually brings a more homogeneous microstructure than that in other deformation conditions. The volume fraction of the DRXed grains increases with temperature increasing and decreases with strain rate increasing.     

Mechanism of size effects in microcylindrical compression of pure copper considering grain orientation distribution

In microscale deformation, the magnitudes of specimen and grain sizes are usually identical, and sizedependent phenomena of deformation behavior occur, namely, size effects. In this study, size effects in microcylindrical compression were investigated experimentally. It was found that, with the increase of grain size and decrease of specimen size, flow stress decreases and inhomogeneous material flow increases. These size effects tend to be more distinct with miniaturization. Thereafter, a modified model considering orientation distribution of surface grains and continuity between surface grains and inner grains is developed to model size effects in microforming. Through finite element simulation, the effects of specimen size, grain size, and orientation of surface grains on the flow stress and inhomogeneous deformation were analyzed. There is a good agreement between experimental and simulation results.     

Neutron Diffraction Study of Low-Cycle Fatigue Behavior in an Austenitic–Ferritic Stainless Steel

By performing in situ neutron diffraction experiments on an austenitic–ferritic stainless steel subjected to lowcycle fatigue loading, the deformation heterogeneity of the material at microscopic level has been revealed. Based on the in situ neutron diffraction data collected from a single specimen together with the mechanical properties learned from the ex situ micro-hardness, a correlation has been found. The performance versus diffraction-profile correlation agrees with the cyclic-deformation-induced dislocation evolution characterized by ex situ TEM observation. Moreover, based on the refined neutron diffraction-profile data, evident strain anisotropy is found in the austenite. The high anisotropy in this phase is induced by the increase in dislocation density and hence contributes to the hardening of the steel at the first 10 cycles.Beyond 10 fatigue cycles, the annihilation and the rearrangement of the dislocations in both austenitic and ferritic phases softens the plastically deformed specimen. The study suggests that the evolution of strain anisotropy among the differently oriented grains and micro-strain induced by lattice distortion in the respective phases mostly affect the cyclic-deformationinduced mechanical behavior of the steel at different stages of fatigue cycles. The stress discrepancy between phases is not the dominant mechanism for the deformation of the steel.     

Effects of process parameters on the microstructure during the hot compression of a TC6 titanium alloy

The effects of process parameters on the microstructural evolution, including grain size and volume fraction of the α phase during hot forming of a TC6 alloy were investigated using compression tests. Experiments were conducted on the material with (α β) phases at deformation temperatures of 800, 860, 920, and 950℃, swain rates of 0.001, 0.01, 1, and 50 s^-1, and height direction reductions of 30%, 40%, and 50%. After reaching a peak value near 920, the gram size and volume fraction decrease with further increase of deformation temperature. The strain rate affects the morphologies and grain size of α phase of the TC6 titanium alloy. At a lower strain rate, the effect of the swain rate on the volume fraction is greater than that at a higher swain rate under the experimental conditions. The effects of the swain rate on the microstructure also result from deformation heating. The grain size of the α phase increases with an increase in height direction reduction after an early drop. The effect of height direction reduction on the volume fraction is similar to that of the grain size. All of the optical micrographs and quantitative metallography show that deformation process parameters affect the microstructure during hot forming of the TC6 alloy, and a correlation between the temperature, strain, and strain rate appears to be a significant fuzzy characteristic.     

Abnormal mechanical property evolution induced by heat treatment for a semi-solid forming hypereutectic Al-Fe base alloy

In the present study, Al-5.5Fe-4Cu-2Zn-0.4Mg-0.5Mn al oy samples were prepared by electromagnetic stirring and semi-solid forming processing, and then the effects of T6 and T1 heat treatments on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the semi-solid forming samples were investigated. The results indicate that after semi-solid forming, the mechanical properties of the sample improved significantly compared to that of the merely electromagnetically stirred sample. The grains of semi-solid forming alloy became almost fine equiaxed; big long strip-shaped Al3 Fe phases became short rod-like morphology and distributed uniformly in the matrix. However, the mechanical properties of the T6-treated semi-solid forming sample decreased significantly instead of increasing and, with solution temperature rising, the tensile strength of the al oy decreased further. The results of EDS show that after high temperature solid-solution treatment, the Cu element in the semi-solid forming alloy sample is mainly concentrated at the boundaries of the Al3 Fe phases instead of being dissolved in the matrix. At the same time, the grains of the semi-solid forming sample grew slightly after solid-solution treatment. Therefore, the growth of the grains and the accumulation of Cu element at Al3 Fe phase boundaries during solution treatment of the semi-solid forming alloy were the main reasons for the mechanical properties decreasing after T6 treatment. The mechanical properties of the alloy were improved after T1 heat treatment due to aging strengthening phase being precipitated in the matrix.     

Tensile Properties and Deformation Behavior of Several Cast Ni-Based Superalloys Fabricated by Different Solidification Ways

The tensile properties and deformation behavior of several cast Ni-based superalloys,respectively,in the equiaxed,columnar-crystal and single-crystal styles are comparatively studied.The effects of solidification way,heat treatment and strain rate on the tensile properties are discussed in detail.It is found that the reduction of grain boundaries by the feasible solidification ways offers cast Ni-based superalloys the potential capability of improving the mechanical properties,the ultimate achievement of which is also confirmed to lie on the appropriate modifications of chemical composition and heat treatment.The prolongation of solid solution facilitates the precipitation of fine secondary γ′ phase,whereas the extension of high-temperature aging leads to the coarsening of secondary γ′ phase.The combination of these two aspects has a crucial influence on the tensile properties.Under tensile applied stress,the surface grains of DZ-A alloy deform slightly,while the inner grains deform heavily.This deformation inhomogeneity is ascribed to the occurrence of cracks or oblique grains near the surface of specimens and the sliding or decohesion of grain boundaries between the surface and inner grains.Regardless of strain rate,the ILTDM(intermediate-low-temperature ductility minimum) phenomenon always happens in the temperature range from 400 to 600 ℃ in all the investigated alloys,the occurrence of which is closely related to the strong strain-hardening behavior in the deformation process.Finally,the interaction of slip bands which are the main deformation mode below 600 ℃ is established to be the essential reason for the strain hardening.     

Effect of solution treatment on microstructures and mechanical properties of AISI 321 service

A detailed knowledge of changes in microstructures and mechanical properties that occur in AISI 321 stainless steels service before and after solution treatment is of great interest,since the ductility and toughness of AISI 321 stainless steels may change drastically after service for a long time.After solution treatment at 1050 ℃,the microstructures of AISI 321 stainless steels service for 80 000 h at 700 ℃ indicate that the content of sigma phase significantly decreased,the grains of austenite grew and the amount of twins together with the size increased with solution treatment time.The results of mechanical properties tests show that the impact toughness at room temperature was superior at solution treatment,and there was no obvious change in the impact toughness between different times of solution treatment at room temperature.     

A High-Ductility Mg–Zn–Ca Magnesium Alloy

A new kind of Mg–2 Zn–0.6 Ca(wt%) alloy was fabricated by casting and hot extrusion as a high-ductility structural material. The extruded alloy exhibits a superior elongation of ～30%, yield strength of 130 MPa and ultimate tensile strength of 280 MPa along the extrusion direction at room temperature. Microstructure, texture and tensile properties of the extruded alloy were investigated in details. The remarkable improvement of ductility is ascribed to the weakened basal texture, refined grains and a small number of second phase in the alloy.     

Mechanical properties of fine grained superalloy K4169 with addition of refiners

Grain refinement of superalloy K4169 was achieved by adding refiners into the alloy melt and their effects on the mechanical properties were investigated. The tensile properties at room temperature and 700℃ and low cycle fatigue properties at room temperature were compared for both conventional and fine grained test bars.The results indicate that the rupture strength, yield strength, elongation and reduction of area for refined grains are all much superior to those for coarse ones. Whereas the elongation and reduction of area of fine grained samples decrease at 700℃. Low cycle fatigue properties of samples with refined grains at room temperature are improved significantly. In addition, the degree of dispersion of low cycle fatigue data of samples with refined grains is diminished.     

Effects of Passes on Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Mg–Gd–Y–Zn–Zr Alloy During Multidirectional Forging

The multidirectional forging(MDF) process was conducted at temperature of 753 K to optimize the mechanical properties of as-homogenized Mg–13 Gd–4 Y–2 Zn–0.6 Zr alloy containing long-period stacking ordered phase. The effects of MDF passes on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties were also investigated. The results show that both the volume fraction of dynamic recrystallization(DRX) grains and mechanical properties of the deformed alloy enhanced with MDF passes increasing till seven passes. The average grain size decreased from 76 to 2.24 lm after seven passes, while the average grain size increased to 7.12 lm after nine passes. The microstructure after seven passes demonstrated randomly oriented fine DRX grains and larger basal(0001)\11"20[ Schmid factor of 0.31. The superior mechanical properties at room temperature(RT) with ultimate tensile strength(UTS) of 416 MPa and fracture elongation of 4.12% can be obtained after seven passes. The mechanical properties at RT after nine passes are inferior to those after seven passes due to the coarsening of DRX grains, which can be ascribed to the static recovery resulting from the repeated heating at the interval of MDF passes. The elevated temperature mechanical properties of the deformed alloy after seven passes and nine passes were investigated. When test temperature was below 523 K, the elevated temperature tensile yield strength and UTS after seven passes are superior to those after nine passes, while they are inferior to that after nine passes as temperature exceeds523 K.     

Temperature-Dependent Compressive Deformation Behavior of Commercially Pure Iron Processed by ECAP

To explore the temperature dependence of deformation behavior of BCC structural materials and the relevant effect of pre-annealing, commercially pure iron(CP Fe) produced by equal-channel angular pressing(ECAP) is selected as the experimental material. The influences of deformation temperature T and pre-annealing on deformation behavior,surface deformation characteristics and substructures of ECAP Fe were systematically studied. The results show that ECAP Fe undergoes a remarkable strain softening stage after a rapid strain hardening during uniaxial compression, and the softening degree and the yield strength rYSfirst decrease and then increase with raising temperature. Pre-annealing at400 °C effectively weakens the strain softening degree and increases rYS. To understand the influence of deformation temperature on deformation behavior, as well as the relevant pre-annealing effect, deformation and damage characteristics and dislocation structures are studied in detail. In a word, the strain softening of ECAP Fe is associated not only with internal structural instability, but also with temperature, and pre-annealing at 400 °C improves high-temperature mechanical properties of ECAP Fe.     

Influence of Island Scanning Strategy on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Direct Laser-Deposited Ti–6Al–4V Structures

To investigate the influence of island scanning on the microstructures and mechanical properties of direct laser-deposited Ti–6 Al–4 V structures, two samples are prepared using island scanning and orthogonal successive scanning, respectively.The microstructures, relative density, and mechanical properties of the samples prepared using these two scanning strategies are compared. Each sample exhibits columnar β-grain morphology and basket-weave microstructure characterization.The grains of the sample prepared using island scanning are significantly finer than that prepared by orthogonal successive scanning due to faster cooling during deposition. However, the relative density of the sample prepared using island scanning was slightly smaller due to the concentration of lack-of-fusion pores at the overlap zone of the island. Tensile testing at room temperature indicates that the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of the sample prepared using island scanning is enhanced due to finer grains, while the ductility of the sample is weakened due to defects.     

Effect of aging on mechanical properties and localized corrosion behaviors of Al-Cu-Li alloy

The effects of aging on mechanical properties,intergranular corrosion and exfoliation corrosion behaviors of a 2197 type A1-Li alloy were investigated,and the mechanisms were studied through microstructure observation and electrochemical measurement of simulated bulk phase.The main strengthening precipitates of the alloy aged at175 ℃ and 160 ℃ are δ' and T1.T1 precipitation in the alloy aged at 160 ℃ is delayed,which results in its slower age strengthening and over-aging behavior than the alloy aged at 175 ℃.Meanwhile,aging temperature of 160 ℃causes more uniform distribution and finer size of T1,resulting in its better strengthening effect.As aging time and aging temperature are increased,the size of T1 at grain boundaries and the width of PFZ along grain boundaries are increased,leading to an increase in the susceptibility to intergranular corrosion and exfoliation corrosion.It is suggested that better comprehensive properties can be obtained when the alloy is aged at 160 ℃.