Improvement of the performances of circular saws used in the first transformation of wood by optimizing their microstructure through cross-rolling and austempering-tempering

La fabrication d'outils de coupe rotatifs implique plusieurs défis liés à la maximisation de la résistance à la traction et à la flexion tout en préservant la ténacité. Le produit souhaité est une plaque parfaitement plane avec de faibles contraintes résiduelles et d'excellentes et uniformes propriétés mécaniques planaires. La présente recherche vise à développer une texture et des microstructures pour maximiser la résistance, la ténacité et la dureté tout en minimisant la distorsion du corps des scies circulaires utilisées dans l'industrie de la première transformation du bois. La réalisation des objectifs mentionnés par la production du substrat des scies circulaires par laminage croisé et austempering-revenu a été étudiée. Ce projet de recherche se en deux étapes. La première s'est déroulée à l'échelle du laboratoire a traité de l'effet du laminage croisé et du traitement thermique de trempe sur un type d'acier faiblement allié utilisé dans la fabrication de lames de scies circulaires commerciales. Lors de l'étape suivante, les résultats ont été mis en œuvre à l'échelle réelle pour produire des lames de scie de taille industrielle. Les résultats ont été comparés à des scies du commerce fabriquée par laminage à chaud, trempe et revenu. Des essais de validation ont été effectués sur le produit final pour quantifier l'efficacité de la nouvelle approche. Les résultats ont montré que le laminage croisé induit des grains équiaxes homogènes et une texture {100} intense des fibres α et ε dans les directions RD et TD. La texture fibreuse distincte développée par le laminage croisé a augmenté la résistance du matériau au ramollissement. La microstructure bainitique de la post-déformation austempering-revenu a amélioré simultanément la dureté (9%), la limite d'élasticité (19%), la résistance en traction (%19) et la résistance à la flexion (22%) sans sacrifier la ductilité. Les propriétés ci-dessus étaient identiques le long des directions dans le plan en raison des textures uniformes des fibres α et ε. Le revenu de la bainite près de la gamme de températures de transformation baintique a équilibré le rapport résistance/ductilité et maximisé la planéité du matériau. La fabrication d'outils rotatifs plus minces qui maximisent la récupération de la fibre de bois pendant le processus de coupe est réalisable avec cette nouvelle méthode.Fabrication of rotary cutting tools involves several challenges related to the maximization of tensile and bending strength with the preservation of toughness. The desired product is a perfectly level plate with low residual stresses and excellent uniform properties in all directions. The present research was planned to develop a texture and microstructures to maximize strength, toughness, and hardness while minimizing distortion of the body of circular saws used in the primary transformation of wood. Achieving the mentioned objectives through the production of the substrate of the circular saws by cross-rolling and austempering-tempering was investigated. This research project consisted of two phases. In the lab-scale stage, the effect of the cross-rolling and austempering heat treatment was studied on a type of low alloy steel used in the fabrication of commercial circular saw blades. In the next step, the results were implemented at the actual scale to produce actual size saw blades. The results were compared to conventional saws made by hot rolling, quenching and tempering. Pilot tests were carried out on the final product to evaluate the efficacy of the new approach. The results showed that cross-rolling induced homogenous equiaxed grains and an intense {100} texture of α and ε fibers along RD and TD directions. The distinct fiber texture developed by cross-rolling increased the material's resistance to softening. The bainitic microstructure of the post-deformation austempering-tempering simultaneously improved hardness (9%), yield stress (19%), ultimate tensile strength (%19), and flexural strength (22%) without sacrificing ductility. The above properties were identical along in-plane directions due to the uniform α and ε fiber textures. Tempering of bainite near the bainitic transformation temperature range adjusted the strength/ductility balance and maximized the levelness of the material. The manufacturing of thinner rotary tools that minimize waste during the cutting process is feasible with this novel method

Impact of a multi-step heat treatment on different manufacturing routes of 18CrNiMo7-6 steel

Effect of an optimized multi-step heat treatment routine on conventional (machining from wrought bar stock) and alternate manufacturing routes (hot forging and cold rotary forging) for producing flat cylindrical-shaped machine drive components from 18CrNiMo7-6 steel was investigated. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the final component manufactured using these three different routes were analyzed using optical microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), hardness testing, electro-thermal mechanical testing (ETMT), and rotary bending fatigue testing (RBFT) before and after implementing the multi-step heat treatment. It was found that the multi-step heat treatment transformed the as-received microstructure into the tempered martensitic microstructure, improving hardness, tensile, and fatigue properties. The heat treatment produced desired properties for the components manufactured by all three different routes. However the cold rotary forging, which is the most material utilizing route over the others, benefited the most from the optimized heat treatment

Characterisation and Development of Nanostructured, Ultrahigh Strength, and Ductile Bainitic Steels

The purpose of the present work was to characterise and further develop a novel nanostructured type of bainitic steel. Three chemical compositions were considered with different concentrations of Al and Co. The addition of Al and Co is believed to be necessary to produce the desired nanostructure at very low temperatures within a reasonable transformation time. An overview of the mechanical performance of fully bainitic steels vs other steel systems is presented in Chapter 1. An introduction to metallurgical concepts regarding the design and performance of bainite steels is presented in Chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 2 focuses on the design concepts by which the steel chemical composition was optimised, primarily on the basis of cost and the avoidance of carbide precipitation. Chapter 3 deals with the evolution of the microstructure during uniaxial tension, studied using X-ray diffraction. The effect of tempering deformed and undeformed structures, and heating to high temperatures, have also been investigated. In this context, data on bainite-containing steels in the literature are found to be rather limited. Chapter 4 is a comprehensive assessment of the mechanical behaviour of the steels subjected to a variety of processing routes. It is demonstrated that it is possible to outperform current commercially available steels. The microstructural behaviour of strain-aged and as-transformed steels during uniaxial tension studied using in situ neutron diffraction is described in Chapter 5. The evolution of texture with plastic deformation was confirmed as previously observed using conventional X-ray analysis. Evidence regarding the presence of two populations of carbon-depleted and carbon-rich austenite and their response to strain, grain rotation, anisotropy, stress partitioning between phases and the lack of work-hardening to overcome the onset of necking are presented

Phase stability in steels under electropulsing

There are increasing interests to alternate the microstructure and hence the properties of steels that are applied in various environment conditions using a work-efficient and energy-saving manner. The desirable microstructure evolution is often not achievable by means of conventional thermo-mechanical processing and solid-state phase transition. This thesis has considered four fundamental engineering problems, namely (i) the possibility of anti-aging processing for the aged steels in service at high temperature, (ii) the recovery of the lost strength for the steels at high temperature, (iii) the suspension of crack initiation and propagation during cold-working of steels with eutectoid microstructures and (iv) the regaining of strength during tempering of a steel containing martensite. Phase stability in the processing environment is the primary concern in each of the list problems because it presents, in thermodynamically, the possibility to achieve the goals using the designed processing. Electropulsing processing has been considered and integrated with the conventional thermomechanical processing in the development of this PhD thesis. The so-called electropulsing treatment utilises electric current pulses with high peak current density and short pulse duration. Due to the nature of the short duration pulse, the energy consumption is very low. The high current density enables a very strong impact of electropulsing on the microstructure evolution and hence is work efficient. Following results have been obtained through the study： • Using the appropriate electropulsing parameters, the formed secondary phase (e.g. χ-phase) by precipitation in 316L stainless steels at elevated temperature can be dissolved. Electropulsing processing can supress the precipitation and homogenize the alloying elements in the stainless steel. The stability of the secondary phases in the stainless steel has been changed by the imposed electropulse. • Electropulsing treatment is able to alternate the delta-ferrite phase transition. This has been proved in the treatment of 2205 duplex stainless steel. The new format of phase transition causes strengthening of the steel at high temperature. The stability of phases in the steel has been affected by the applied electropulsing treatment. • For the light steels containing high aluminium composition, electropulsing is able to affect the thermodynamic stability and grain morphology of κ-carbide. This leads to significant improvement of steel formability. • Application of electropulsing processing to dual-phase automotive steel changes the stability of martensite phase. The processing improve the mechanical properties and refined the microstructure of this steel. The fundamental understanding of the experimental observations has been developed based on the thermodynamic and kinetic analysis.Open Acces

New insights into the fracture behavior of advanced high strength steel resistance spot welds

While the automotive industry is striving for the reduction of car body weight to increase the fuel efficiency and to reduce CO2 emission without compromising the safety and crashworthiness of vehicles, a new generation of advanced high strength steels (AHSS) have emerged as excellent candidates to meet these requirements. However, their integration into the car body structure is associated with welding-related problems. This research utilizes a novel approach to establish a fundamental correlation between welding parameters, microstructure and mechanical performance of AHSS resistance spot welds. In-situ micro-cantilever bending experiments are executed and analyzed in a quantitative manner to evaluate the effect of texture and post-welding heat treatment on the local fracture toughness of spot welds. A striking finding is that, through a switch from single to double pulse weld scheme, the texture of martensite formed in the fusion zone becomes responsible for a significantly higher fracture toughness of the area in front of the pre-crack. In addition, it is found that paint baking heat treatment also results in a much enhanced fracture toughness through tempering of the martensitic microstructure. A quantitative correlation is made between the micro-scale fracture toughness and macro-scale mechanical performance of advanced high strength steel welds

Nanoscale austenite reversion through partitioning, segregation, and kinetic freezing: Example of a ductile 2 GPa Fe-Cr-C steel

Austenite reversion during tempering of a Fe-13.6Cr-0.44C (wt.%) martensite results in an ultrahigh strength ferritic stainless steel with excellent ductility. The austenite reversion mechanism is coupled to the kinetic freezing of carbon during low-temperature partitioning at the interfaces between martensite and retained austenite and to carbon segregation at martensite-martensite grain boundaries. An advantage of austenite reversion is its scalability, i.e., changing tempering time and temperature tailors the desired strength-ductility profiles (e.g. tempering at 400{\deg}C for 1 min. produces a 2 GPa ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and 14% elongation while 30 min. at 400{\deg}C results in a UTS of ~ 1.75 GPa with an elongation of 23%). The austenite reversion process, carbide precipitation, and carbon segregation have been characterized by XRD, EBSD, TEM, and atom probe tomography (APT) in order to develop the structure-property relationships that control the material's strength and ductility.Comment: in press Acta Materialia 201

Heat Treatment of Steels

Steels represent a quite interesting material family, both from scientific and commercial points of view, following many applications they can be devoted to. Following this, it is therefore essential to deeply understand the relations between properties and microstructure and how to drive them via a specific process. Despite their diffusion as a consolidated material, many research fields are active regarding new applications. In this framework, in particular, the role of heat treatments in obtaining complex microstructures is still quite an open matter, which is also thanks to the design of innovative heat treatments.This Special Issue embraces interdisciplinary work covering physical metallurgy and processes, reporting on experimental and theoretical progress concerning microstructural evolution during the heat treatment of steels

Development of Structural Steels for Powder Bed Fusion - Laser Beam

Over the past decade, powder bed fusion – laser beam (PBF-LB) has attracted noticeable attention from both academia and industry. However, there remains a scarcity of approved material for the process, as fewer than 40 alloys are commercially available. Although structural steels are some of the most commonly used materials in traditional manufacturing, they have yet to be developed for PBF-LB as their high carbon content makes them susceptible to cracking. The objective of this thesis was to develop structural steels for PBF-LB by determining the impact of various process parameters on part quality, microstructure and mechanical properties. This involved the production and analysis of various carbon (0.06 to 1.1 wt.% C) and low-alloy steels (AISI 4130, 4140, 4340 and 8620).In terms of part quality, specimen density was related to the volumetric energy density (VED) and the carbon content of the alloy. Regarding the VED, specimens produced at low VED formed lack of fusion porosity, while specimens produced at high VED formed keyhole porosity. As for the carbon content, increasing the carbon content would reduce lack of fusion porosity at low VED, while lowering the required VED to form keyhole porosity. As for cold cracking, this occurred in structural steels with ≥ 0.38 wt.% C as elevated carbon contents would increase specimen hardness. However, cracking could be mitigated by increasing the VED, laser power or build plate preheating temperature, as each enhanced the level of in situ tempering during PBF-LB. From these findings, process windows were established for each structural steel that produced defect-free and high-density specimens (> 99.8%).In terms of the microstructure, the as-built specimens were primarily composed of tempered martensite, with retained austenite also observed in alloys with ≥ 0.75 wt.% C. During PBF-LB, martensite formed during layer melting and was initially in a quenched-like state, with carbon atoms segregating to dislocations and martensite lath boundaries. Subsequent tempering of this martensite was due to micro-tempering within the heat affected zone and macro-tempering within the previously solidified material. Although both influenced martensite tempering, micro-tempering had the most significant effect as it reduced martensite hardness by up to ~380 HV. This noticeable reduction in hardness was due to the precipitation of nano-sized carbides at the previously carbon enriched regions of martensite.Lastly, mechanical testing found that structural steels produced by PBF-LB achieved a high ultimate tensile strength (4140: ∼1400 MPa, 4340: ∼1500 MPa, 8620: ∼1100 MPa), impact toughness (4140:∼90–100 J, 4340:∼60–70 J, 8620:∼150–175 J) and elongation (4140:∼14%, 4340:∼14%, 8620:∼14–15%) that met or exceeded the ASTM standards. Additionally, these specimens displayed limited directional anisotropy due to small grains with weak crystallographic texture, a homogenous microstructure and low levels of internal defects. These findings are meant to highlight that these alloys are not only suitable but actively take advantage of PBF-LB to achieve properties that meet or exceed those of conventionally produced alloys