Les modèles basés sur la mécanique des milieux continus prévoient généralement une déformation à la rupture plus élevée, ainsi qu'une durée de vie en fluage beaucoup plus longue que les valeurs observées expérimentalement. Cette thèse met en évidence deux aspects de cette problématique en analysant l'endommagement à l'aide de tomographie in situ à rayons X de synchrotron et reconstruction 3D de la structure polycristalline par polissages successifs.L'endommagement en termes de fraction surfacique des cavités a été identifié dans les couches de reconstructions tomographiques perpendiculairement à l'axe de déformation. L'évolution de la fraction surfacique des cavités a été comparée avec le modèle de prédiction de Cocks et Ashby. Ce dernier surestime la durée de vie en fluage et sous-estime l'état de l'endommagement. L'importance de l'hétérogénéité initiale de l'endommagement et l'effet de localisation de l'endommagement est également souligné. L'amplitude de la plus grande fluctuation surfacique augmente de façon parabolique en fonction de la fraction surfacique moyenne.Une méthode de sectionnement sériel améliorée basée sur la profilométrie de surface a été développée. Elle permet la mesure précise de l'épaisseur du matériau enlevée localement. Les analyses ont montré que l'emplacement des cavités par rapport aux joints de grains et l'orientation cristallographique des grains au voisinage est similaire pour les échantillons déformé par différents mécanismes de fluage. La population relative des cavités de fluage présente aux joints de grains simples est supérieure à celle présente aux joints triples. Les cavités trouvées aux joints triples, cependant, sont plus grandes.

L'electromigration est identifiée comme la principale cause de dégradation des interconnexions en cuivre limitant ainsi la fiabilité des produits issus de la microélectronique. Dans ces travaux nous proposons d'approfondir notre connaissance de ce phénomène en étudiant le lien qu'il présente avec les paramètres morphologiques du cuivre. Dans ce but, la technique de diffraction des électrons rétrodiffusés est utilisée. Nous avons d'abord développé les méthodes de préparation et d'acquisition nécessaires afin de pouvoir caractériser les structures issues des technologies 45 nm et au-delà que nous avons choisies pour cette étude. Un lien entre les joints de grains de forte désorientation et la localisation des cavités a alors pu être mis en évidence. Nous avons ensuite tenté de modifier la microstructure du cuivre pour impacter la fiabilité sans succès. Finalement, c'est l'intégration de nouveaux matériaux (Al, Co) renforçant l'interface supérieure, chemin de diffusion du phénomène, qui semble être la voie à adopter pour améliorer la résistance des lignes à l'électromigration.

The effect of initial microstructures of an 0.05 wt.% C low carbon steel, acicular ferrite (AF), Bainite (B), polygonal ferrite (PF), fine polygonal ferrite (FPF), and a microstructure produced by direct strip casting (DSC) (termed SC), on the deformation and recrystallization behaviour of cold rolled low carbon (LC) steel, was investigated. The initially prepared samples with the initial microstructures were cold rolled to 50, 70 and 90% reductions, then annealed isothermally in the temperature range 580 ??? 680 oC. The microstructures and textures produced by deformation and annealing were studied by optical microscopy, XRD, TEM, SEM and EBSD. The initial microstructures were characterized mainly by optical microscopy and EBSD. Using EBSD, the ferrite grain size of the AF, B and SC samples was considerably larger than that found by optical microscopy with a large fraction of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) observed within prior austenite grains. All samples exhibited a very weak texture close to random. After cold rolling, the microstructures of AF and SC contained shear bands with PF and FPF generating deformation bands. For AF and SC, the pearlite phase was more extensively elongated in rolling direction compared with PF and FPF. After 90% cold rolling reduction, PF, FPF and SC consist mainly of the texture component and AF and B . It was found that FPF recrystallized most rapidly followed by B, PF and AF with SC recrystallizing orders of magnitude more slowly due to the solution drag caused by its uniformly distributed higher Mn content. Very strong (???-fibre) texture was generated in cold rolled PF followed by FPF, with AF, SC and B generating very weak textures. The texture evolution during annealing 90% reduction PF was examined in further detail. The behaviour of nucleation and grain growth provides strong evidence of orientated nucleation as the dominant factor for CRA texture development in this material.

The ability to generate three dimensional (3D) microstructures in solids is of great importance in understanding their true nature, as it eliminates speculation about the spatial distribution of features associated with conventional two dimensional (2D) imaging techniques. There are several recently-developed 3D techniques for determining the spatial distribution of microstructural features, each with a given resolution. There is considerable interest in the development of a specific serial sectioning methodology, termed 3D electron backscatter diffraction (3D-EBSD), which combines a focused ion beam (FIB) with EBSD interfaced to a field emission gun scanning electron microscope. Here, FIB is used as a serial sectioning device for cutting parallel slices of single- and multi-phase materials with a site-specific accuracy of up to 50 nm. Each consecutive slice is mapped by EBSD and the complete dataset combined using advanced computer algorithms to generate a volume of a material whereby the true crystallographic features can be analyzed at submicron resolution. The aims of the thesis was to develop 3D-EBSD into a powerful materials analysis tool and use it to resolve several issues concerning the nature of the deformed state and the nucleation and the growth behaviour of recrystallizing grains. The study commenced with an investigation into the effect of material type (restricted to face centred cubic AI, Cu and Au metallic crystals), FIB milling conditions and EBSD software variables on the quality of EBSD patterns generated on ion-milled surfaces of these materials. The effect of material type on EBSD pattern quality following FIB milling was found to be significant with relatively poor quality EBSD patterns obtained for metals of low atomic number. It was demonstrated, particularly for the high atomic number metals, that moderate FIB milling currents (~1-5nA) generated good quality EBSD maps from a given ion-milled surface. This preliminary work was necessary for balancing the time required for serial sectioning during 3D-EBSD and the generation of sufficient quality EBSD maps from each ion-milled surface. The outcomes of this investigation were applied to two major 3D-EBSD investigations on the microstructural and crystallographic characteristics of: (i) deformation features generated in a cold rolled interstitial free (IF) steel, with particular emphasis on the formation of microbands; and (ii) recrystallization of a cold rolled nickel alloy containing coarse (>1 ??m) silica particles, with particular attention given to the generation of particle deformation zones and their influence on nucleation and growth of recrystallizing grains including particle stimulated nucleation (PSN), twin formation during PSN and the growth behaviour of various types of grain boundary into the deformation microstructure. The foregoing 3D-EBSD studies were significant as they revealed various microstructural and crystallographic features not usually clearly evident in conventional 2D micrographs obtained by either EBSD or optical metallography. For example, the technique demonstrated that microbands in cold rolled IF steel consist of irregular curved surfaces that reconcile findings that microbands straight and aligned parallel to slip planes when viewed in normal direction-rolling direction sections but are wavy in transverse direction-rolling direction sections. Three slip planes were found within the angular range of the curved surface of the microband, which indicates that multiple slip planes are operative during deformation. The work also showed the influence of particle diameter on the misorientations generated within particle deformation zones and clearly showed that particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) occurred at particles greater than 1.5-2 ??m. It was observed that PSN in the nickel sample also generates contiguous grains separated by both coherent and incoherent twin boundaries and, on further growth of these grains into the matrix, the coherent boundary dominates and remains parallel to the primary growth direction of the grains.

Following the continually increasing demand for high-density interconnection and multilayer packaging for chips, solder bump size has decreased significantly over the years, this has led to some challenges in the reliability of interconnects. This thesis presents research into the resulting effects of miniaturization on the interconnection with Sn-solder, especially focusing on the full intermetallics (IMCs) micro-joints which appear in the 3D IC stacking packaging. Thereby, systematic studies have been conducted to study the microstructural evolution and reliability issues of Cu-Sn and Cu-Sn-Ni IMCs micro-joints. (1) Phenomenon of IMCs planar growth: The planar IMCs interlayer was asymmetric and composed of (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 mainly in Ni/Sn (2.5~5 μm)/Cu interconnect. Meanwhile, it was symmetric two-layer structure in Cu/Sn (2.5~5 μm)/Cu interconnect with the Cu3Sn fine grains underneath Cu6Sn5 cobblestone-shape-like grains for each IMCs layer. Besides, it is worth noticing that the appearance of Cu-rich whiskers (the mixture of Cu/Cu2O/SnOx/Cu6Sn5) could potentially lead to short-circuit in the cases of ultra-fine ( < 10 μm pitch) interconnects for the miniaturization of electronics devices. (2) Microstructural evolution process of Cu-Sn IMCs micro-joint: The simultaneous solidification of IMCs interlayer supressed the scalloped growth of Cu6Sn5 grains in Cu/Sn (2.5 μm)/Cu interconnect during the transient liquid phase (TLP) soldering process. The growth factor of Cu3Sn was in the range of 0.29~0.48 in Cu-Cu6Sn5 diffusion couple at 240~290 °C, which was impacted significantly by the type of substrates. And the subsequent homogenization process of Cu3Sn grains was found to be consistent with the description of flux-driven ripening (FDR) theory. Moreover, Kirkendall voids appeared only in the Cu3Sn layer adjacent to Cu-plated substrate, and this porous Cu3Sn micro-joint was mechanically robust during the shear test. (3) Microstructural evolution of Cu-Sn-Ni IMCs micro-joint: There was obvious inter-reaction between the interfacial reactions in Ni/Sn (1.5 μm)/Cu interconnect. The growth factor of (Cu,Ni)3Sn on Cu side was about 0.36 at 240 °C, and the reaction product on Ni side was changed from Ni3Sn4 into (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 with the increase of soldering temperature. In particular, the segregation of Ni atoms occurred along with phase transformation at 290 °C and thereby stabilized the (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 phase for the high Ni content of 20 at.%. (4) Micro-mechanical characteristics of Cu-Sn-Ni IMCs micro-joint: The Young s modulus and hardness of Cu-Sn-Ni IMCs were measured by nanoindentation test, such as 160.6±3.1 GPa/ 7.34±0.14 GPa for (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 and 183.7±4.0 GPa/ 7.38±0.46 GPa for (Cu,Ni)3Sn, respectively. Besides, in-situ nano-compression tests have been conducted on IMCs micro-cantilevers, the fracture strength turns out to be 2.46 GPa. And also, the ultimate tensile stress was calculated to be 2.3±0.7 GPa from in-situ micro-bending tests, which is not sensitive with the microstructural change of IMCs after dwelling at 290 °C.

Mainly two different morphologies of martensite can be obtained in steels depending on the amount of alloying elements. The first morphology, referred to as lath martensite, forms in low alloy, low carbon steels. It is, by far, the most extensively studied form of martensite due to its industrial applications. The second morphology of martensite, referred to as plate martensite, forms in highly alloyed and in high carbon steels and in particular in Fe-High Ni alloys. In this case, the transformation product is disc shaped and internally twinned. This morphology is the only form of martensite that has the potential to exhibit shape memory properties. It is therefore of great interest to understand the mechanisms of its formation. This is investigated in the present dissertation through the study of the martensitic transformation occurring in a Fe-30.5%Ni-0.155%C alloy. More precisely, the influence of stress and grain size on the crystallography of plate martensite is discussed in the general framework of the phenomenological theory of martensite crystallography. This theory allows associating a unique shape deformation to each orientational variant. In this way, the experimental observations carried out at different length scales by means of optical microscopy, EBSD and TEM can be used to infer the transformation path followed under different conditions. Firstly, the burst configurations of variants observed in coarse-grained austenite under stress free conditions are rationalized by considering the mechanical couplings between the variants. It is shown that self-accommodating and autocatalytic couplings are responsible for the formation of hierarchical configurations of variants. More precisely, the transformation is shown to occur through the alternate formation of perpendicular plate groups of variants. Self-accommodation is the dominant coupling between variants of the same plate group while autocatalytic couplings are responsible for the transfer of the transformation from one generation to the next. It is suggested that the plastic accommodation of the shape deformation plays a dominant role in propagating the transformation to a lower length scales. Secondly, the influence of a uniaxial stress state on the transformation is studied. It is seen experimentally that only the most favoured variants are systematically formed in coarse Cube grains while coarse non-Cube grains generally transform into plate groups of variants that are only moderately favoured by the stress. These observations are well explained by considering the interaction energy between the applied stress and the shape deformation associated with the transformation. Thirdly, the influence of the austenitic grain size on the transformation is also studied. A decrease in grain size is seen to decrease the martensite start temperature. For a grain size below about 10µm, the thermal transformation in liquid nitrogen is indeed suppressed in the present alloy. This observation is related to the increasing yield strength of austenite as the grain size is reduced. A noticeable change in the morphology of martensite also accompanies the decrease in grain size. Indeed, martensite forming in coarse-grained austenite is mostly lens shaped and partially twinned while it appears plate shaped and fully twinned in smaller grains. Furthermore, martensite forming in fine-grained austenite develops self-accommodating configurations suggesting that most of the transformation deformations are elastically accommodated in this case. This is believed to be related to the observance of a shape memory effect in the present alloy in its fine-grained condition. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The object of the present investigation has been to relate the mechanical properties of a high strength Mg-Y-Gd alloy to alloy composition, extrusion parameters and microstructure. Three alloys with various Y: Gd ratios, of similar total solute content (at %) to Elektron 675, have been investigated in this study:9122: Mg – 6.5 wt % Y – 7.6 wt % Gd – 0.4 wt % Zr 9123: Mg – 8.2 wt % Y – 4.8 wt % Gd – 0.4 wt % Zr9124: Mg – 2.6 wt % Y – 13.1 wt % Gd – 0.4 wt % ZrThe three alloys were extruded at 425 and 475 °C with extrusion ratio 17: 1 to give two samples from each alloy, group a and b. Alloy 9122 was also extruded at 460 and 500 °C with extrusion ratio 10: 1 to give another two samples c and d. The as-cast microstructure of the three alloys comprised equiaxed α-magnesium grains and regions of eutectic decorating some grain boundaries formed during solidification of the ingot. Variation of extrusion parameters has resulted in a dispersion of different volume fractions of second phase particles in different groups of samples. The chemistry of second phase particles was determined by in-situ bulk energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD); magnesium yttrium was identified for near-equiaxed particles and yttrium hydride was proposed as a possible identification for cuboids. The composition of these compounds varied with variation of Y: Gd in the three alloys. Variation of extrusion ratio and extrusion temperature had a clear effect on the evolution of the extruded microstructure and the development of crystallographic texture as characterized by optical microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and inverse pole figures. The microstructure of the extruded samples was refined during extrusion through dynamic recrystallization (DRX). Samples of groups a, b and c exhibited a microstructure in which bands of fine, equiaxed grains in association with stringers of second phase particles (running along the extrusion direction) were formed between bands of coarse, equiaxed grains. Sample d contained only small volume fraction of second phase particles; only a few alternating bands were formed and considerable grain growth occurred. A random texture was developed during extrusion in samples of groups a, b and c; a wide spread of orientations accompanied by a (new) previously unreported texture component in which basal poles of some grains are aligned nearly parallel to the extrusion direction was developed. The new texture component was weak in sample c and entirely suppressed in sample d. The asymmetry in tensile and compressive yield stress commonly associated with magnesium extrusions was nearly eliminated in samples of group a and b. The new basal texture component was likely to be a result of nucleation of DRX on sites rotating into this orientation. This is proposed to be a result of deformation in those regions in grains was accomodated by basal, prismatic and pyramidal slip. The grains nucleated in this orientation appear to have developed a form of preferred growth which led to strengthening of this new component following solution treatment. The effect of varying solute content (Y & Gd) and different ageing temperatures 150, 200, 250 and 300 °C (T5 & T6) on the ageing response and precipitation reaction were investigated using hardness measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Alloy 9122 showed the highest ageing response of the three alloys at 150, 200 and 250 °C (T5 & T6); specimens aged in the T5 gave higher hardness than the T6 treatment, a contribution of fine grain size. The three alloys did not respond to ageing at 300 °C. The precipitation reactions that occurred in alloy 9122 (at under, peak and overageing) and alloys 9123 and 9124 (at peak ageing) at 250 °C have been characterized. The precipitation sequence observed in sample 9122a can be described as: . The microstructure of peak aged specimens of alloys 9122 and 9124 were similar; both contained a homogeneous dispersion of precipitates and some metastable precipitates. Alloy 9123 contained only a homogeneous dispersion of precipitates and remnants of precipitates and no precipitates. The enhanced thermal stability of and phases are most likely responsible for the superior elevated temperature properties of Elektron 675. The effect of varying solute content (Y & Gd) and extrusion parameters on the mechanical properties were determined using tensile testing. Alloys 9122 and 9124 exhibited higher 0.2 % proof stress and UTS than alloy 9123 and alloy 9122 was the hardest alloy. Alloy 9122 exhibited the worst ductiliy (T5 and T6) among 9123 and 9124, and this was attributed to the higher volume fraction of second phase particles. The ductility of samples a, b and c in the as-extruded & T5 conditions, particularly in the transverse direction, was limited by stringers of second phase particles, whereas ductility and failure in sample d was governed by grain size and texture. The ductility and failure of all samples aged in the T6 treatment, irrespective of the extrusion history, was controlled by texture and grain size rather than stringers of second phase particles.

It has been found that commercially pure (CP) Titanium (Ti) undergoes substantial amount of deformation twinning during plastic forming in a wide range of temperatures and strain rates giving CP-Ti good ductility and allowing up to 90% thickness reduction by cold rolling. Aluminium (Al) rich ! Ti-alloys lack this superior ductility but exhibit therefore up to five times higher yield strength, which was connected experimentally to reduced activity of deformation twinning with addition of Al to Ti. Ultimately this is also valid in the ! phase of two-phase alloys such as Ti6Al4V and thought to be key to the reduced ductility in Al rich alloys. It is to date unclear if ordering of Al in the Ti matrix, a change in the stacking fault energy (SFE) with alloying or a transition of the cellular dislocation structures in CP-Ti to planar slip patterns at high Al contents reduces twin activity. The focus of this dissertation project is therefore the transition of microstructural details and the deformation structures in the ! phase with increasing Al concentration. For simplified investigations binary Ti-Al alloys containing 3.5, 7, 10 and 13at.% Al have been created with comparable grain morphology and texture within this study. For a better understanding of the role of Al also binary Ti-Sn (Tin) alloys (1 & 3.4at.% Sn) and Ti-Zr (Zirconium) alloys (3.6 & 10at.%) as well as an Oxygen (O) rich Ti-10at.%Al and the industrial compositions of Ti6Al4V were produced on the same route and investigated by the same methods. This alloy range allows evaluation of the effects of the c/a ratio, ordering phenomena and the SFE on the twin activity. The knowledge was finally transferred to industrially forged CP-Ti and Ti5Al2.5Sn. TEM and neutron diffraction confirmed the onset of Ti3Al formation from Al concentrations above 7at.% (4wt%), but no ordering of Zr or Sn atoms was found after solution treatments. The evolution of lattice strain and lattice reorientation due to twinning with increasing compressive strain was captured by in-situ experiments under neutron diffraction at Engin-X, ISIS. Post-mortem EBSD micro and macro texture mappings revealed that the twin fraction in Al reduces above a critical concentration of 7at.% (4wt%), which was enhanced with increasing ordering towards Ti3Al. Sn and Zr addition showed no significant effect on the overall twin fraction, but increased twin numbers with facilitated nucleation and impeded twin growth, which may be related to the SFE. Increasing slip planarity and a transition from prismatic slip towards basal slip with addition of Al was found with means of Digital image correlation (DIC). DIC also revealed intense prismatic slip in grains undergoing !"!! tension twinning and virtually barely any strain accumulation within a twin below 9% plastic strain, rationalised by much increased nanohardness in the twin in comparison to the parent. Nanoindentation also revealed that alloying with Al reduces the crystal anisotropy. Finally it is believed that ordering and the closely related transition of slip patterns lead to the reduction in twin activity, while c/a ratio, crystal anisotropy and SFE seem less important.

The current work contains experimental and theoretical work about the formation of martensite from the austenitic state of the steel Hardox 450. Simulation of rolling and subsequent quenching of martensitic steel plates requires a model that can account for previous deformation, current stresses and the temperature history, therefore dilatometry experiments were performed, with and without deformation. Two austenitization schedules were used and in the standard dilatometry the cooling rates varied between 5-100 °C/s, in order to find the minimum cooling rate that gives a fully martensitic microstructure. Cooling rates larger than 40°C/s gave a fully martensitic microstructure. The cooling rate of 100 °C/s was used in the deformation dilatometry tests where the uniaxial deformation varied from 5-50 %. The theoretical work involved modelling of the martensite formation and the thermal/transformation strains they cause in the steel. Characterizations were done using light optical microscopy, hardness tests and electron backscatter diffraction technique. The parent austenite grains of the martensitic structure were reconstructed using the orientation relationship between the parent austenite and the martensite. Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationships have previously been proven to work well for low-carbon steels and was therefore selected. The standard implementation of the Koistinen-Marburger equation for martensite formation and a more convenient approach were compared. The latter approach does not require the storage of initial austenite fraction at start of martensite formation. The comparison shows that the latter model works equally well for the martensite formation. The results showed that the use of martensite start and finish temperatures calibrated versus experiments for Hardox 450 works better when computing thermal expansion than use of general relations based on the chemistry of the steel. The results from deformation dilatometry showed that deformation by compressive uniaxial stresses impedes the martensite transformation. The simplified incremental model works well for deformation with 5 % and 10 %. However, the waviness in the experimental curve for deformation 50 % does not fit the model due vi to large barrelling effect and the large relative expansion for the material that the sample holders are made of. Crystallographic reconstruction of parent austenite grains were performed on a hot-rolled as-received reference sample and dilatometry samples cooled with 60 °C/s and 100 °C/s. The misorientation results showed that the samples match with the Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationship in both hot rolled product and dilatometry samples. When misorientation between adjacent pixels are between 15° and 48°, then the boundary between them was considered as a parent austenite grain. The austenitic grain boundaries of the sample cooled at 100 °C/s is in general identical with the hot rolled sample when considering high angle boundaries (15°-48°). The results from the hardness tests showed that the rolled product exhibits higher hardness as compared to samples cooled by 100 °C/s and 60 °C/s. This can be attributed to the formation of transition-iron-carbides in the hot rolled product due to longer exposure of coiling temperature.

The current work contains experimental and theoretical work about the formation of martensite from the austenitic state of the steel Hardox 450. Simulation of rolling and subsequent quenching of martensitic steel plates requires a model that can account for previous deformation, current stresses and the temperature history, therefore dilatometry experiments were performed, with and without deformation. Two austenitization schedules were used and in the standard dilatometry the cooling rates varied between 5-100 °C/s, in order to find the minimum cooling rate that gives a fully martensitic microstructure. Cooling rates larger than 40°C/s gave a fully martensitic microstructure. The cooling rate of 100 °C/s was used in the deformation dilatometry tests where the uniaxial deformation varied from 5-50 %. The theoretical work involved modelling of the martensite formation and the thermal/transformation strains they cause in the steel. Characterizations were done using light optical microscopy, hardness tests and electron backscatter diffraction technique. The parent austenite grains of the martensitic structure were reconstructed using the orientation relationship between the parent austenite and the martensite. Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationships have previously been proven to work well for low-carbon steels and was therefore selected. The standard implementation of the Koistinen-Marburger equation for martensite formation and a more convenient approach were compared. The latter approach does not require the storage of initial austenite fraction at start of martensite formation. The comparison shows that the latter model works equally well for the martensite formation. The results showed that the use of martensite start and finish temperatures calibrated versus experiments for Hardox 450 works better when computing thermal expansion than use of general relations based on the chemistry of the steel. The results from deformation dilatometry showed that deformation by compressive uniaxial stresses impedes the martensite transformation. The simplified incremental model works well for deformation with 5 % and 10 %. However, the waviness in the experimental curve for deformation 50 % does not fit the model due vi to large barrelling effect and the large relative expansion for the material that the sample holders are made of. Crystallographic reconstruction of parent austenite grains were performed on a hot-rolled as-received reference sample and dilatometry samples cooled with 60 °C/s and 100 °C/s. The misorientation results showed that the samples match with the Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationship in both hot rolled product and dilatometry samples. When misorientation between adjacent pixels are between 15° and 48°, then the boundary between them was considered as a parent austenite grain. The austenitic grain boundaries of the sample cooled at 100 °C/s is in general identical with the hot rolled sample when considering high angle boundaries (15°-48°). The results from the hardness tests showed that the rolled product exhibits higher hardness as compared to samples cooled by 100 °C/s and 60 °C/s. This can be attributed to the formation of transition-iron-carbides in the hot rolled product due to longer exposure of coiling temperature.