Transformation of the Microstructure of Fe-Cr Steel during Its Production

EN 1.4016 stainless steels combine good corrosion resistance with good formability and ductility. As such, their most popular applications are related to sheet forming. During re-crystallisation of Fe-Cr steels, deviations from the desired γ-fibre (gamma fibre, <111>||ND) texture promote a decrease in deep drawability. Additionally, α-fibre (alpha fibre, <110>||RD) has been found to be damaging to formability. In this study, an EN 1.4016 basic material and a modified one with optimised settings as regards to chemical composition and manufacturing process, in order to improve the formability properties, are characterised. The phase diagram, microstructure, Lankford coefficients and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) (results confirm the evolution of texture during the processing of ferritic stainless steel. Texture is analysed by the interpretation of Orientation Distribution Function (ODF), using orientation density results for each sample obtained in the processing route. The cube ({001} <100>) and rotated cube ({001} <110>) textures dominate the crystal orientation from the slab until the intermediate annealing stage. After final annealing, there is a texture evolution in both materials; the γ-fibre component dominates the texture, which is much more intense in modified material supported by components that show good deep drawability, {554} <225>, and good transition from hot to cold rolling, {332} <113>. The modified composition and process material delivers a better re-crystallisation status and, therefore, the best drawability performance.

Effect of Interface on the Deep Drawability of Ti/Al Multilayered Composites

Ti/Al multilayered composites (LMCs) with different layers were prepared by hot-pressing and hot-rolling. The effects of interface on the deep drawability of LMCs were explored. The results indicate that LMCs with more layers have a higher limit-drawing ratio (LDR) and exhibit an excellent deep drawability. The texture strength of the Ti layer gradually weakens with the increase of layers, which leads to the smaller yield ratio (σs/σb), the plastic strain ratio (r), and the larger strain hardening index (n), thus the deep drawability of LMCs with more layers is enhanced effectively. The Ti/Al interfaces in three, five, and seven layers of LMCs exhibit straight, small wave-like interlocking, and dense serrated structures at the corner of the cylindrical parts, respectively. The component metals become thinner with the increase of layers, and the increased interfacial pressure promotes the formation of an increasingly firm overlapped interfacial structure. The load transfer via the interfaces makes the stress distribution between layers more uniform with the increase of layers, which helps to coordinate deformation. Deflection and tearing occur when the cracks propagate to the interface due to the complex stress state, which hinders and delays the crack penetration, thereby improving the deep drawability of LMCs with more layers.

Some Formability Aspects of High Strength Steel and of Consisting Tailor Welded Blanks

In recent years, the demand for a reduction in pollutant emission has become extremely important in the vehicle industry. It can be achieved through fuel consumption reduction, which is a direct function of the vehicle’s weight. nowadays weight is widely controlled by the use of advanced- and ultra-high strength steels (AHSS and UHSS) in vehicle body construction. With the application of such steel sheets as chassis elements, crashworthiness can be maintained next to reduced sheet thicknesses, too. In this paper, the deep-drawability and springback after V-die bending is monitored for three types of AHSS grades, namely DP600, DP800 and DP1000 materials. The investigations are extended to tailor welded blanks (TWBs), made by the aforementioned steels coupled with a cold rolled steel sheet (DC04). Our results show that deep-drawability reduces with both the increase in strength and the increase in strength difference between the components in the TWBs. Furthermore, the higher strength is shown to cause higher spring-back. The TWBs have unique spring-back behavior around the weld line.

Thermomechanical Treatment of Martensitic Stainless Steels Sheets and Its Effects on Their Deep Drawability and Resulting Hardness in Press Hardening

The deep drawability of three Martensitic Stainless Steels (MSS) alloys under conventional press hardening thermomechanical process conditions was investigated. The three alloys differ in the content of the main elements C and Cr. Firstly, the metallurgical properties of the alloys were determined, i.e., the phase mass fraction diagrams and the concentration of alloying elements in solid solution at the austenitic temperatures with help of the JMatPro® software version 7.0. Derived from this analysis, specific thermomechanical process parameters were defined to evaluate experimentally and numerically the hot sheet formability of the alloys during the deep drawing process. The hot deep drawability of the MSS alloys was experimentally assessed. The hot deep drawability was evaluated with the resulting maximum drawing depth values. In general, all three alloys developed very good formability at forming temperatures between 700 and 900 °C. However, they are susceptible to chemical composition, austenization temperature, dwell time, and flange gap. The hot formability behavior of the alloys as well as the resulting hardness showed very good concordance with the calculated metallurgical values. Finally, a numerical analysis was conducted using Simufact Forming® 15.0 software. The interval time during hot blank transfer to the tool determines the initial and final forming temperature. The effect of the time interval on the forming temperature was analyzed numerically and validated experimentally. It was also possible to determine the maximum level of plastic strain in the deep drawn cup.

EFFECT OF ANNEALING CYCLES ON DEEP DRAWABILITY OF LOW CARBON TITANIUM ADDED STEEL

EFFECT OF ANNEALING CYCLES ON DEEP DRAWABILITY OF LOW CARBON TITANIUM ADDED STEEL. Maximum mechanical properties and deep drawability of low carbon titanium added steels was obtained after heat treatment with simulation batch annealing cycles in an industrial process. The effect of holding times and holding temperatures on deep drawability were studied using tensile test for measuring normal anisotropy (r-value) and strain hardening exponent (n-value). Scanning electron microscope were employed for observation of microstructure in steel sheets. X-ray diffraction with pole figure techniques were also used for measuring texture of annealing. Results showed that as the temperature was increased up to 900 oC, both r and n values increased gradually and peaked in the temperature of 850 oC. This results showed that formability of sheet materials increased until batch annealing temperature reach 850 oC as increasing the ratio of intensities {111} /{100}. The largest mean r value of almost 2.6 was obtained in slow heating at holding temperature of 850 oC with n value of 0.27.

Micro Deep Drawability of the Superplastic Zn–22Al Alloy at a High Strain Rate and Room Temperature

This study aimed to investigate the micro deep drawability of the Zn–22Al alloy at room temperature in which it shows superplastic properties. To this goal, first the two-step equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) process was carried out to obtain an ultra-fine-grained structure (UFG). Upon achieving the grain size of 200 nm, the formability of the alloy at room temperature and at a high strain rate was investigated both experimentally and numerically. Micro deep drawing experiments were performed at different deep drawing ratios (1.66, 1.84, 2.0, and 2.25) and for different sheet thicknesses (0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mm). The finite element model of the micro deep drawing was also established to assess and compare the thickness variation in deep drawn parts. Results showed that the superplastic Zn–22Al alloy has a great potential in microforming applications. It was also noted that the limiting drawing ratio can be obtained as high as 2.25 in the room temperature condition.