Stacking fault energy of cryogenic austenitic steels

Stacking fault energy and stacking fault nucleation energy are defined in terms of the physical nature of stacking faults and stacking fault energy, and the measuring basis for stacking fault energy. Large quantities of experimental results are processed with the aid of a computer and an expression for calculating stacking fault energy has been obtained as γ³⁰⁰_SF(mJ·m^-2)=γ⁰_SF+1.59Ni-1.34Mn+0.06Mn²-1.75Cr+0.01Cr²+15.21Mo-5.59Si-60.69(C+1.2N)^1/2 + 26.27(C+1.2N)(Cr+Mn+Mo)^1/2+0.61[Ni·(Cr+Mn)]^1/2.     

Point defect processes in neutron irradiated Ni,Fe–15Cr–16Ni and Ti-added modified SUS316SS

The defect structures in Ni, Fe–15Cr–16Ni and Ti-added modified SUS316SS (modified SUS316) were examined after neutron irradiation below 0.3 dpa by the Japan Materials Testing Reactor and Belgian Reactor 2 to compare their defect structural evolution. The growth behaviour of interstitial-type dislocation loops (I-loops), stacking fault tetrahedra (SFTs) and voids was found to be quite different among these specimens. I-loops developed at lower temperatures in Ni than in Fe–15Cr–16Ni and modified SUS316, and more swelling occurred in Ni than in Fe–15Cr–16Ni. Finally, there were no voids in modified SUS316. These results were analysed in terms of the I-loop energy. A large discrepancy was found between the analytical results and experimental observations for Ni and modified SUS316, which suggests the formation of unfaulted I-loops directly from collision cascades. The growth of SFTs was detected in Fe–15Cr–16Ni and modified SUS316, and can be explained by a change in the dislocation bias of SFTs resulting from the absorption of alloying elements.     

Exploring the origin of variant selection through martensite-austenite reconstruction

An approach of near neighbour correlation, with manual intervention, was developed for reconstructing parent austenite microstructure in a martensitic stainless steel. This was validated in a ferrite-austenite dual structure. Two-hundred and twenty randomly selected austenite grains were reconstructed from the experimental EBSD (electron backscattered diffraction) measurements. From these reconstructions, martensite variant selection was quantified as the number of variants (n_V) and the variant selection index (VSI: a statistical index for the relative area fractions of the variants). For each prior austenite grain, both n_V and VSI appeared to depend on the associated transformation (austenite-martensite) strain. Selection of common variants between two neighbouring austenite grains was related to the presence of 60°<111?>?or Σ3 boundary in the austenite phase and corresponding minimisation of the transformation strain.     

Σ3 CSL boundary distributions in an austenitic stainless steel subjected to multidirectional forging followed by annealing

The effect of processing and annealing temperatures on the grain boundary characters in the ultrafine-grained structure of a 304-type austenitic stainless steel was studied. An S304H steel was subjected to multidirectional forging (MDF) at 500–800°C to total strains of ~4, followed by annealing at 800–1,000°C for 30 min. The MDF resulted in the formation of ultrafine-grained microstructures with mean grain sizes of 0.28–0.85 μm depending on the processing temperature. The annealing behaviour of the ultrafine-grained steel was characterized by the development of continuous post-dynamic recrystallization including a rapid recovery followed by a gradual grain growth. The post-dynamically recrystallized grain size depended on both the deformation temperature and the annealing temperature. The recrystallization kinetics was reduced with an increase in the temperature of the preceding deformation. The grain growth during post-dynamic recrystallization was accompanied by an increase in the fraction of Σ3ⁿ CSL boundaries, which was defined by a relative change in the grain size, i.e. a ratio of the annealed grain size to that evolved by preceding warm working (D/D₀). The fraction of Σ3ⁿ CSL boundaries sharply rose to approximately 0.5 in the range of D/D₀ from 1 to 5, which can be considered as early stage of continuous post-dynamic recrystallization. Then, the rate of increase in the fraction of Σ3ⁿ CSL boundaries slowed down significantly in the range of D/D₀ > 5. A fivefold increase in the grain size by annealing is a necessary condition to obtain approximately 50% Σ3ⁿ CSL boundaries in the recrystallized microstructure.     

Energy Spectrum,g Factors,Strain-Induced Level-Splittings and R-Line Thermal Shift of MgO：V^2＋＋

Traditional ligand-field theory has to be improved by taking into account both pure electronic contribution and electron-phonon interaction one （including lattice-vibrational relaxation energy）. By means of improved ligand-field theory, the R line, t^322T1 and t^322T2 lines, t^22（^3T1）e^4T2, t^22（^3T1）e^4T1 and t2e^2（^4A2）4T1 bands, g factors of t^32 ^4A2 and t32E, four strain-induced level-splittings and R-line thermal shift of MgO：V^2＋ have been calculated. The results are in very good agreement with the experimental data. It is found that for MgO：V^2＋, the contributions due to electronphonon interaction （EPI） come from the first-order term; the contributions from the second-order and higher terms are insignificant. In thermal shift of R line of MgO：V^2＋, the temperature-dependent contribution due to EPI is dominant. The results obtained in this work may be used in theoretical calculations of other effects of EPI.     

Deformation-induced martensite and nanotwins by cryogenic laser shock peening of AISI 304 stainless steel and the effects on mechanical properties

Laser shock peening (LSP) of stainless steel 304 was carried out at room and cryogenic temperature (liquid nitrogen temperature). It was found that the deformation-induced martensite was generated by LSP only when the laser-generated plasma pressure is sufficiently high. Compared to room temperature laser shock peening (RT-LSP), cryogenic laser shock peening (CLSP) generates a higher volume fraction of martensite at the same laser intensity. This is due to the increase in the density of potential embryos (deformation bands) for martensite nucleation by deformation at cryogenic temperature. In addition, CLSP generates a high density of deformation twins and stacking faults. After CLSP, an innovative microstructure, characterised by networks of deformation twins, stacking faults and composite structure (martensite and austenite phases), contributes to material strength and microstructure stability improvement. The combined effect of higher surface hardness and a more stabilised microstructure results in greater fatigue performance improvement of the CLSP samples compared to that of the RT-LSP samples.     

Energy Spectrum,g Factors,Strain-Induced Level-Splittingsand R-Line Thermal Shift of MgO:V2+

Traditional ligand-field theory has to be improved by taking into account both pure electronic contribution and electron-phonon interaction one (including lattice-vibrational relaxation energy). By means of improved ligand-field theory, the R line, t₂^{3 2}T₁ and t₂^{3 2}T₂ lines, t₂² (³T₁)e⁴T₂, t₂² (³T₁)e⁴T₁ and t₂ e²(⁴A₂)⁴T₁ bands, g factors of t₂^{3 4}A₂ and t₂^{3 2}E, four strain-induced level-splittings and R-line thermal shift of MgO:V₂₊ have been calculated. The results are in very good agreement with the experimental data. It is found that for MgO:V₂₊, the contributions due to electron-phonon interaction (EPI) come from the first-order term; the contributions from the second-order and higher terms are insignificant. In thermal shift of R line of MgO:V₂₊, the temperature-dependent contribution due to EPI is dominant. The results obtained in this work may be used in theoretical calculations of other effects of EPI.     

Improved Ligand-Field Calculation of Energy Spectrum and R-Line Thermal Shift of MgO：Cr^3＋

Traditional ligand-field theory has to be improved by taking into account both pure electronic contribution and electron-phonon interaction one （including lattice-vibrational relaxation energy）. By means of improved ligand-field theory, the R-line, t^3 2^2 T1 lines, t^2 2（^3 T1）e^4 T2, and t^2 2（^3T1）e^4T1 bands, ground-state g factor, four strain-induced level- splittings, and R-line thermal shift of MgO：Cr^3＋ have been calculated. The results are in very good agreement with the experimental data. It is found that for MgO：Cr^3＋, the contributions due to electron-phonon interaction （EPI） come from the first-order term. In thermal shift of R-line of MgO：Cr^3＋, the temperature-dependent contribution due to EPI is dominant.     

铸造奥氏体不锈钢中铁素体与奥氏体位向关系及其对声衰减的影响

研究了铸造奥氏体不锈钢中铁素体与奥氏体位向关系及其对超声散射衰减的影响.利用电子背散射衍射技术表征了两相的晶体取向及其位向关系,基于真实的铁素体形貌建立了二维声传播各向异性模型并利用时域有限差分法进行了计算,分析了不同位向关系、铁素体形貌特征对声衰减系数的影响规律并进行了实验验证.结果表明：铸造奥氏体不锈钢奥氏体晶粒中散布着形状复杂的铁素体,典型铁素体形貌为条状和岛状;铁素体与奥氏体的位向关系以Kurdjumov-Sachs关系为主,少量满足Nishiyama-Wassermann关系.对声传播过程进行计算,发现两相位向关系和铁素体形貌协同作用影响超声波传播,在较高检测频率（15 MHz）下对散射衰减的影响不能忽略.结合“原位”实验对奥氏体<101>柱状晶粒的声衰减影响因素进行了定量分析,发现对于单一铸造奥氏体晶粒,晶粒内部取向不均匀性、奥氏体-铁素体位向关系以及奥氏体晶粒内铁素体形态都是超声散射衰减的主要原因.