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Bimodal Grain Size Distribution Enhances Strength and Ductility Simultaneously in a Low-Carbon Low-Alloy Steel

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Abstract

Low-carbon low-alloy steel specimens were quenched, then cold rolled, and finally annealed. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) micrographs revealed a bimodal grain structure where ultra-fine grain structures with low-angle grain boundaries are alternating with regions of larger grains. The average total dislocation density was measured by X-ray line profile analysis, whereas the geometrically necessary dislocation density was obtained from the analysis of EBSD data. Using the combination of the Hall–Petch and Taylor equations, a good correlation was found between the total dislocation density and the measured flow stress in the different states of the alloy. The difference in evolutions of the total and the geometrically necessary component of the dislocation densities is discussed in terms of the successive processes of quenching, rolling, and annealing of the alloy.

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Acknowledgments

The work is supported by the TÁMOP-4.2.2.A-11/1/KONV-2012-0027 project. The project is co-financed by the European Union and the European Social Fund. This work is connected to the scientific program of the “Development of quality-oriented and harmonized R + D + I strategy and functional model at BME” project. This Project is supported by the New Hungary Development Plan (Project ID: TÁMOP-4.2.1/B-09/1/KMR-2010-0002). T.U. is grateful to the OTKA K-112648 Project for partial support of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

    Péter J. Szabó (Head of Department)

  2. School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering and Architecture, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    David P. Field (Professor)

  3. Department of Materials Physics, Eötvös University Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

    Bertalan Jóni (PhD Student) & Tamás Ungár (Professor Emeritus)

  4. Physics of Nanostructured Materials, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Jelena Horky (PhD Student)

  5. Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Tamás Ungár (Professor Emeritus)

Authors
  1. Péter J. Szabó
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  2. David P. Field
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  3. Bertalan Jóni
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  5. Tamás Ungár
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Correspondence to Tamás Ungár.

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Manuscript submitted July 6, 2014.

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Szabó, P.J., Field, D.P., Jóni, B. et al. Bimodal Grain Size Distribution Enhances Strength and Ductility Simultaneously in a Low-Carbon Low-Alloy Steel. Metall Mater Trans A 46, 1948–1957 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-015-2783-x

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