Effect of shear deformation on refinement of crystal grains

Abstract

Ferrite grain structures created through transformation from deformed austenite under different deformation modes have been investigated for a low carbon Si–Mn steel. To introduce a large plastic strain, a specimen is compressed by a pair of anvils with edges controlled to keep the strain rate constant by using a compression type simulator. An explicit finite element analysis was carried out to evaluate the non-uniform strain distribution quantitatively in the specimen induced by anvil compression. The ferrite grain size was plotted as a function of the numerically obtained data of the equivalent plastic strain ϵeq for areas with and withoutshear deformation, respectively. An interesting effect of the shear deformation is discussed from the viewpoint of the formation of finer ferrite grains.