Thermal Diffusivity of Traditional and Innovative Sheet Steels

Abstract

The low carbon steels, used for the production of car bodies by deep drawing, are gradually substituted by high strength steels for vehicle weight reduction. The drawn car body components are joined by welding and the welded points undergo a reduction of the local tensile strength. In developing an accurate welding process model, able to optimized process parameters and to predict the final local microstructure, a significant improvement can be given by the knowledge of the welded steels thermal diffusivity at different temperatures. The laser-flash method has been used to compare the thermal diffusivity of two traditional deep drawing steels, two high strength steels already in common usage, i.e. a Dual Phase (DP) steel and a TRansformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steel, and one experimental high-Mn austenitic TWIP (Twinning Induced Plasticity) steel. The low carbon steels, at low temperatures, have a thermal diffusivity that is 4-5 times larger than the TWIP steel. Their thermal diffusivity decreases by increasing temperature while the TWIP steel shows an opposite behaviour, albeit with a lesser slope, so that above 700°C the TWIP thermal diffusivity is larger. The different behaviour of the TWIP steel in respect to the ferritic deep drawing steels arises from its non ferro-magnetic austenitic structure. The DP and TRIP steels show intermediate values, their diffusivity being lower than that of the traditional deep drawing steels; this latter fact probably arises from their higher alloy content and more complex microstructure.