A strain-gradient crystal plasticity finite element method(SGCP-FEM) was utilized to simulate the compressive deformation behaviors of single-slip, (111)[101], oriented FCC single-crystal micro-pillars with two different slip-plane inclination angles, 36.3o and 48.7o, and the simulation results were compared with those from conventional crystal plasticity finite element method(CP-FEM) simulations. For the low slip-plane inclination angle, a macroscopic diagonal shear band formed along the primary slip direction in both the CP- and SGCP-FEM simulations. However, this shear deformation was limited in the SGCP-FEM, mainly due to the increased slip resistance caused by local strain gradients, which also resulted in strain hardening in the simulated flow curves. The development of a secondly active slip system was altered in the SGCP-FEM, compared to the CP-FEM, for the low slip-plane inclination angle. The shear deformation controlled by the SGCP-FEM reduced the overall crystal rotation of the micro-pillar and limited the evolution of the primary slip system, even at 10% compression.

Titanium has many special characteristics such as specific high strength, low elastic modulus, excellent corrosion and oxidation resistance, etc. Beta titanium alloys, because of their good formability and strength, are used for jet engines, and as turbine blades in the automobile and aerospace industries. Low cost beta titanium alloys were developed to take economic advantage of the use of low-cost beta stabilizers such as Mo, Fe, and Cr. Generally, adding a trace of boron leads to grain refinement in casted titanium alloys due to the pinning effect of the TiB phases. This study analyzed and evaluated the microstructural and mechanical properties after plastic deformation and heat treatment in boron-modified Ti-2Al-9.2Mo-2Fe alloy. The results indicate that a trace of boron addition made grains finer; this refinement effect was found to be maintained after subsequent processes such as hot forging and solution treatment. This can effectively reduce the number of required manufacturing process steps and lead to savings in the overall cost as well as low-cost beta elements.

A strain-gradient crystal plasticity constitutive model was developed in order to predict the Hall Petch behavior of a Ni-base polycrystalline superalloy. The constitutive model involves statistically stored dislocation and geometrically necessary dislocation densities, which were incorporated into the Bailey-Hirsch type flow stress equation with six strength interaction coefficients. A strain-gradient term (called slip-system lattice incompatibility) developed by Acharya was used to calculate the geometrically necessary dislocation density. The description of Kocks-Argon-Ashby type thermally activated strain rate was also used to represent the shear rate of an individual slip system. The constitutive model was implemented in a user material subroutine for crystal plasticity finite element method simulations. The grain size dependence of the flow stress (viz., the Hall- Petch behavior) was predicted for a Ni-base polycrystalline superalloy NIMONIC PE16. Simulation results showed that the present constitutive model fairly reasonably predicts 0.2%-offset yield stresses in a limited range of the grain size.

Prior austenite grain size plays an important role in the production of high strength hot-rolled steel. This study investigated the effect of Ti and C contents on the precipitates and prior austenite grain size. Steel with no Ti solutes had prior austenite grain size of about 620 μm. The addition of Ti ~ 0.03 wt.% and 0.11 wt.% reduced the prior austenite grain size to 180 μm and 120 μm, respectively. The amount of Ti required to significantly decrease the prior austenite grain size was in the range of 0.03 wt.%. However, the amount of carbon required to significantly decrease the prior austenite grain size was not present from 0.04 wt.% to 0.12 wt.%. Oxides of Ti (Ti2O3) were observed as the Ti content increased to 0.03 wt.%. The specimen containing 0.11 wt.% of Ti exhibited the complex carbides of (Ti, Nb) C. The formation of Ti precipitates was critical to reduce the prior austenite grain size. Furthermore, the consistency of prior austenite grain size increased as the carbon and Ti contents increased. During the reheating process of hot-rolled steel, the most critical factor for controlling the prior austenite grain size seems to be the presence of Ti precipitates.

Energy resistance welding (ERW) is a pipe-producing process that has high productivity and low manufacturing cost. However, the high heat input of ERW degrades the mechanical property of the pipe. This study investigates the effect of heat input and alloying elements on microstructure and mechanical properties of ERW pipes. As the heat input increased, the ferrite amount increased. The ferrite amount in the weld centerline was larger than t at in the weld boundary. Medium carbon steels (S45C and K55) having 0.3~0.4wt.% carbon yielded a significant difference of ferrite amount in the weld centerline and weld boundary. High alloyed steels (DP780 and K55) having 1.5~1.6wt.% Mn showed a ferrite rich zone in the weld centerline. These phenomena are probably due to decarburization and demanganisation in the weld centerline. As the ferrite fraction increased, the hardness decreased a little for the S45C steels. In addition, DP780 steels and K55 steels showed that the hardness drops when those steels have a ferrite rich zone. But we demonstrated the good tensile property of the DP780 steels and K55 steels in which Mn is included.

The effects of Quenching and Partitioning (Q&P) and Annealed Martensite (AM) heat treatment on the microstructure and tensile properties were investigated for 0.24C-0.5Si-1.5Mn-1Al steels. The Q&P steels were annealed at a single phase (γ) or a dual phase (γ+α), followed by quenching to a temperature between Ms and Mf. Then, enriching carbon was conducted to stabilize the austenite through the partitioning, followed by water quenching. The AM steels were intercritically annealed at a dual phase (γ+α) temperature and austempered at Ms and Ms±50˚C, followed by cooling in oil quenching. The dual phase Q&P steels showed lower tensile strength and yieldyield strength than those of the single phase Q&P steels, and tThe elongation for the dual phase Q&P steel was partitioning 100s higher than that of that for the single phase Q&P steels as the partitioning time was less than 100s up to partitioning 100s. For AM steels, the tensile/yield strength decreased and the total elongation increased as the austempering temperature increased. The stability of the retained austenite controlled the elongation for Q&P steels and the volume fraction of the retained austenite controlled the elongation for AM steels.