Sharif Digital Repository

The microstructure and phase transformational behavior of NiTi-based composites reinforced with 6 wt.% of α-alumina nanoparticles have been investigated. Two kinds of starting materials, elemental Ni–Ti and prealloyed austenitic NiTi, were used to prepare the composites. The samples were consolidated using a hot isostatic pressing method. The X-ray diffraction results showed that while unreinforced NiTi mainly contained B2 phase at room temperature, martensitic B19′ phase appeared in the microstructure after addition of the α-alumina nanoparticles. The differential scanning calorimetry measurements indicated that the martensitic transformation temperatures were elevated in the composite... 

Retained austenite as a key constituent in final microstructure plays an important role in TRansformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steels. The volume fraction, carbon concentration, size, and morphology of this phase are the well-known parameters which effects on the rate of transformation of retained austenite to martensite and the properties of steel, are studied by many researchers. Of the transformation of retained austenite to martensite under strain in a TRIP steel is studied in this paper. The experimental results show that the transformation rate of retained, austenite with similar characteristics, to martensite in differently processed TRIP steel samples, exhibits an anisotropic... 

Ferrite-bainite-martensite triple phase (TP) microstructures with different volume fractions of martensite were obtained by changing heat treatment time during austempering at 300 C. Room temperature impact properties of TP steels with different martensite volume fractions (VM) were determined by means of Charpy impact testing. The effects of test temperature on impact properties were also investigated for two selected microstructures containing 0 (the DP steel) and 8.5 vol.% martensite. Test results showed reduction in toughness with increasing VM in TP steels. Fracture toughness values for the DP and TP steels with 8.5 vol.% martensite were obtained from correlation between fracture... 

The aim of this work is to investigate thermal stability of expanded martensite. For this purpose, two martensitic stainless steels, PH 17-4 and 13-8Mo, were low temperature gas carburized. After heat treatment, it was found out that thermal stability of expanded layer of PH 17-4 is higher than that of PH 13-8Mo. Auger Electron Spectroscopy and microhardness machines were used to investigate carbon concentration and hardness of samples, respectively. X-ray diffraction was done to study crystal structures of samples before and after heat treatment  

This paper addresses the microstructure and tensile-shear mechanical performance of MS1200 Giga-grade martensitic advanced high strength steel resistance spot welds. The key phase transformations in MS1200 welds were lath martensite formation in the fusion zone (FZ) and upper-critical heat affected zone (HAZ), new ferrite formation in the inter-critical HAZ and martensite tempering in the sub-critical HAZ. The MS1200 welds were featured by a near matching hardness in the fusion zone and under-matching hardness in the heat affected zone (HAZ) compared to the base metal. At certain process window a complete nugget pullout and separation was observed with high post-necking tearing energy. The... 

The strain-induced martensitic transformation greatly affects the plastic behavior of the metastable austenitic stainless steels. The martensitic transformation continuously changes the initially homogeneous material into a strongly heterogeneous bi-phase one. In addition to the hardening behavior, this phenomenon would influence the damage growth and load-carrying capacity of the material during the plastic deformation. In this study, plastic behavior of the material AISI 304 including the hardening and damage growth, has been examined at low temperature; where a high rate of martensitic transformation affects the microstructure strongly. Experimental analysis and microscopic observations... 

The phase field approach (PFA) for the interaction of fracture and martensitic phase transformation (PT) is developed, which includes the change in surface energy during PT and the effect of unexplored scale parameters proportional to the ratio of the widths of the crack surface and the phase interface, both at the nanometer scale. The variation of these two parameters causes unexpected qualitative and quantitative effects: shift of PT away from the crack tip, "wetting" of the crack surface by martensite, change in the structure and geometry of the transformed region, crack trajectory, and process of interfacial damage evolution, as well as transformation toughening. The results suggest... 

In the present work, three alumina-15 vol% zirconia composites with Y2O3, MgO as dopants and without oxide as dopant have been investigated. High energy ball milling (HEBM) provides the positive thermodynamic driving force for monoclinic to tetragonal transformation and it reduces starting temperature for the reverse martensitic transformation, meanwhile mobility of zirconium cations and oxygen anions are enhanced in zirconia by HEBM. The general, albeit heuristic, reasoning is corroborated by nanocrystallity, particle size and also the retained monoclinic seem to play an important role. After 10 h HEBM, approximately 28% zirconia tetragonal phase is achieved. Non-stoichiometric tetragonal... 

Results of recent studies on the effect of heat treatment after cold rolling on mechanical properties and transformation temperatures of the cast 52Ni48Ti alloys are described. It is seen that stress-induced martensite is formed when both the as-rolled and the low-temperature (≤400 °C) heat-treated samples are strained. Martensite reorientation due to the stress action occurs in samples heat treated at 500 °C and higher. Optimum recovery occurs below 600 °C resulting in hardness reduction. Recrystallization starts at 600 °C resulting in parent phase yield stress enhancement. Yield stress starts to decrease when grain growth and order-disorder transformation both occur above 700 °C. © 2006... 

Dual phase steels with different martensite volume fraction and morphology were tensile tested at temperature range of 25-550 °C. Stress-strain curves of all steels showed serration flow at temperature range of 250-450 °C and smooth flow at the other temperatures. Both yield and ultimate tensile strengths increased with increasing testing temperature up to about 450 °C and then decreased at higher temperatures. At a given temperature, yield stress, tensile strength, and work hardening increased with increasing volume fraction of martensite. Similar behavior was observed by changing martensite morphology from network to fibrous martensite. The change in mechanical properties was related to... 

This paper addresses the microstructure and mechanical performance of dissimilar resistance spot welds between AISI 430 ferritic stainless steel and drawing quality special killed (DQSK) low-carbon steel. The mechanical properties of the welds are described by peak load, failure energy, and failure mode during the tensile-shear test. Phase transformations in the fusion zone (FZ) and heat-affected zone (HAZ) are analyzed. The main metallurgical features of the weldment are the formation of a dual-phase, ferrite-martensite microstructure in the FZ, grain growth and martensite formation in the HAZ of the ferritic stainless steel side, and martensitic and eutectoid transformations in the HAZ of... 

In this work, cold rolling behavior of stainless steel 304L is investigated and the effects of different process parameters on the occurrence of strain-induced martensite and mechanical properties are studied. The rolling experiments are conducted under different rolling speeds and reductions in which a set of samples is deformed at room temperature and the other set is first cooled to the temperature of − 10 °C and then rolled. Afterward, the developed microstructures and mechanical properties of the rolled steel are evaluated employing different testing techniques. In order to justify the results, mathematical modeling of cold rolling operation is also performed using Abaqus/Explicit to... 

In this work, non-isothermal annealing of cold-rolled 304L austenitic stainless steel was studied at temperatures ranging between 400 and 800 °C. In the first place, a dual-phase structure containing work-hardened austenite and strain-induced martensite was produced by means of multi-pass plate rolling, and then, the deformed steel was subjected to annealing heat treatments. To determine the distribution of stored strain energy in the rolling operations, an elastic–plastic finite-element modeling was conducted. Afterwards, an artificial neural network technique was coupled with the thermal-cellular automata model for prediction of martensite reversion, temperature history, and... 

316L stainless steel is widely used as cathode blank in copper electrorefining. These cathode blanks become distorted through the cathode stripping in the cathode stripping machine and must be straightened before using again. After several times repeated cold straightening, the cathode blank spring backs to its distorted position during electrorefining resulted in short circuits and current efficiency decreases. The objectives of this study were to: i) investigate the cathode blank spring back behavior and properties; ii) propose a solution adhere to the subject. To achieve these goals, more than 20 samples are selected and cut into small pieces to simulate the cold straightening process.... 

In this paper, the application of an actuator wire made of shape memory alloy (SMA) and externally attached to a cantilever beam is analyzed. To this end, an integrated model that includes the constitutive equations of the SMA, the phase transformation equations from martensite to austenite and vice versa, the heat transfer equation for the SMA that also includes the input energy from an electric source, and the equations of the elastic deformation of the cantilever beam as well as the SMA wire, is presented. The simultaneous solution of the mentioned set of equations can result in the evaluation of the system response to an electrical activation of SMA  

This paper presents the effect of martensite volume fraction (VM) on mechanical properties of AISI 4340 steel with ferrite-bainite-martensite microstructures. The steel bars were austenitized at 900°C for 1h followed by intercritical annealing at 740°C for 100min and quenching into a salt bath with temperature of 300°C and holding at different times to obtain triple phase (TP) microstructures with 34vol.% fraction ferrite and various martensite (or bainite) contents. Presence of three phases in adjacent to each other was confirmed by metallographic analysis and TEM studies. TEM observation also indicates higher density of dislocations within ferrite near martensite colonies compared to that...