Complex-phase (CP) steels are employed in applications that require high-strength and good edge formability. These steels derive their strength from a fine-grained bainite-ferrite microstructure, and alloying to provide solid-solution and precipitation strengthening. CP steels are produced industrially through a process of controlled rolling and cooling to produce desirable microstructures. Hole-expansion tests are typically used as a measure of edge formability for applications such as stretch-flanges. It has been shown that CP microstructures are susceptible to large fluctuations in hole-expansion performance with little change in processing or resulting tensile properties. The steel’s characteristics of damage evolution are critical to the hole-expansion performance. This study investigates the role of microstructure in the development of damage in CP microstructural variants. Two variant pairs of different thicknesses were produced from the leading and trailing edge of industrially produced hot-rolled sheet. Each pair consisted of a variant with poor hole-expansion performance, and a variant with good hole-expansion performance. Each variant was tested via interrupted double-notched uniaxial tension testing to induce damage. Damage evolution in each variant was quantified by X-ray micro-computed tomography (XµCT), and supplementary optical micrography. The damage results were correlated with microstructural characteristics. It was shown that poor hole-expansion variants failed by intergranular fracture. In these variants, void damage induced by hard martensite and retained austenite was not critical in producing failure. Purely void-damaged microstructures failed by ductile fracture, whereas cracked microstructures failed in a mixed brittle-ductile failure initiated by planar cracks. Microstructural banding of large elongated ferrite grains correlated with the existence of intergranular planar fractures. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-12-17 15:03:02.206

Ce travail de thèse porte sur les mécanismes de plasticité et d'endommagement des aciers complexe-phase (CP). La microstructure bainitique de ces aciers, permets d’acquérir de bonnes propriétés de formabilité, qui intéressent les constructeurs automobiles. Cependant, la complexité de ces microstructures, qui se caractérisent par une grande quantité de joints de grains et une densité élevée de dislocations, influence la plasticité et les mécanismes d'endommagement. Afin d'estimer l'impact de la microstructure, une étude des caractéristiques métallurgiques des aciers à phases complexes est réalisée. Les mécanismes de plasticité sont ensuite étudiés par des tests de tension-compression afin d’étudier les mécanismes d’écrouissage du matériau. Ensuite, l’évolution de l’endommagement au sein de la microstructure est analysée à différente taux de triaxialité des contraintes afin d’obtenir la fraction de surface volumique ainsi que le nombre et le diamètre moyen des vides en fonction de la déformation plastique. Enfin, pour examiner la stabilité thermique de ces paramètres (microstructure, plasticité et endommagement), des expériences sont effectuées dans une plage de températures allant de 20 ° C à 600 ° C. / This PhD work investigates plasticity and damage mechanisms of complex phase steels. The bainitic microstructures of such steels, which feature retained austenite islands, result in these steels exhibiting good formability properties, which are of interest to automotive companies. However, the complexity of these microstructures, which are characterised by a high amount of grain boundaries and a high density of dislocations, influences plasticity and damage mechanisms. In order to estimate the impact of a steel's microstructure on these properties, the investigation of metallurgical features of complex phase steels provided by the company Faurecia is performed. Plasticity mechanisms are then investigated by tension-compression tests to determine the influence of long- and short-range interactions on the motion dislocation. Thereafter, the evolution of damage within microstructures is analysed at different stress triaxialities in order to obtain the volume area fraction and the number and average diameter of voids as functions of plastic strain. Finally, to examine the thermal stability of these parameters (microstructure, plasticity, and damage), experiments are performed at a range of temperatures between 20°C and 600°C.

A new any-point biasing scheme for Mach-Zehnder interferometer modulators which considers the complex phase is proposed. The Mach-Zehnder arm loss imbalance (imaginary part of the phase bias) is found by slightly perturbing the real and imaginary parts of the phase in each arm with low frequency pilot tones and monitoring and manipulating the spectral content at the output. This technique can be used to extend the possible extinction ratio, reduce the phase error, and better quantify the system chirp but also has some performance degradations which are also quantified and discussed. Simulation results indicate that the maximum extinction ratio of a typical modulator can be extended to ≳ 40 dB and maintained in the presence of ambient complex phase drift in the arms. Practical challenges for implementing this method with a silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator are discussed, but the analysis is general to other material platforms.

A new any-point biasing scheme for Mach-Zehnder interferometer modulators which considers the complex phase is proposed. The Mach-Zehnder arm loss imbalance (imaginary part of the phase bias) is found by slightly perturbing the real and imaginary parts of the phase in each arm with low frequency pilot tones and monitoring and manipulating the spectral content at the output. This technique can be used to extend the possible extinction ratio, reduce the phase error, and better quantify the system chirp but also has some performance degradations which are also quantified and discussed. Simulation results indicate that the maximum extinction ratio of a typical modulator can be extended to ≳ 40 dB and maintained in the presence of ambient complex phase drift in the arms. Practical challenges for implementing this method with a silicon Mach-Zehnder modulator are discussed, but the analysis is general to other material platforms.

[pt] A demanda por veículos mais seguros e com baixo consumo de combustível vem levando a indústria automotiva a buscar novos materiais. A indústria do aço, ameaçada pela competitividade da indústria do alumínio, reagiu com uma série de novos aços de alta resistência. Dentre estes aços, os Aços Avançados de Alta Resistencia (AHSS) podem ser destacados. Esses aços podem ser divididos em 3 gerações, cada uma delas com suas vantagens e desafios. A primeira geração tem os aços mais baratos, geralmente com microestrutura ferritica/martensitica. A segunda geração possui os aços inoxidáveis austeníticos/ferríticos, com composição mais cara devido ao maior teor de liga, muitos deles apresentando efeito de plasticidade induzida por maclagem (TWIP). Entre essas duas gerações, uma terceira vem se sobressaindo, baseada em aços de composição mais barata, porém com processamento mais complexo, como os aços de tempera e partição (Quenching and Partitioning - Q and P). Como não existe apenas um único caminho para o sucesso, todas as três gerações vêm recebendo bastante atenção e pesquisa. Buscando atender parte da demanda do setor, a Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN), vem aprimorando seu portfólio de aços AHSS de primeira geração. Entre os aços de primeira geração, os mais utilizados hoje são os Dual-Phase (DP). No entanto, os aços DP apresentam alguns problemas, como a nucleação de vazios durante a deformação, o que é um fator limitante para suas propriedades mecânicas. Sua substituição por aços Complex-Phase (CP), com maiores quantidades de bainita e menos propensos a nucleação de vazio, vem sendo proposta. O processamento de aços de fase complexa envolve uma sequência de etapas de laminação a quente e a frio, seguidas de um tratamento térmico. Na presente tese, foi estudada a produção de um aço CP1200 em uma linha industrial de galvanização por imersão a quente. O ponto de partida foi um aço CP1100. Amostras deste aço laminado a frio foram analisadas por dilatometria de forma a se obter a curva CCT. Utilizando os dados dilatométricos, um novo tratamento térmico foi proposto e realizado nas instalações da CSN, produzindo com sucesso um aço CP 1200. Ensaios de tração, dureza, dobramento e expansão de buraco foram realizados para medir as propriedades mecânicas do novo aço. A caracterização microestrutural foi realizada por meio de microscopia óptica (MO), microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV), microscopia de força atômica (MFA), difração de elétrons retroespalhados (EBSD) e microscopia eletrônica de transmissão (MET); a quantificação das micrografias foi realizada usando processamento digital de imagem e redes neurais. O aumento da propriedade mecânica foi atribuído ao aumento na fração de bainita, bem como de interfaces bainita-ferrita e bainita-martensita, que são menos suscetíveis a nucleação de vazios. / [en] The demand for safer and fuel-efficient vehicles leads the automotive industry to seek new and stronger materials. The steel industry, threatened by the aluminum competition, reacted with new and higher strength steels. Among the possible steels, the Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) can be highlighted. These steels can be divided into 3 generations, each one possessing advantages and challenges. The first generation includes more economical alloying and processing strategies, usually with a ferritic/martensitic microstructure. The second generation contains the more expensive, higher alloyed ferritic/austenitic stainless steels, using TWinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP). Between these two classes, a third generation is growing, based on more inexpensive compositions but with more complex processing, such as Quenching and Partitioning (Q and P). There is not only a single path to success, because of that, all three generations receive their fair amount of attention and research. Trying to fulfill part of the industry demand, the Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) is conducting research on the first generation of AHSS steels. Among the first generation steels, Dual-Phase (DP) are the most used. However, DP steels present some problems, such as void nucleation during deformation, which is a limiting factor on their mechanical properties. Therefore, their replacement by Complex-Phase (CP) steels, with higher bainite amounts, and less prone to void nucleation, is welcome. The complex phase steels processing involves a sequence of hot-rolling and cold rolling steps, followed by a heat treatment. In the present thesis, the production of a CP1200 steel in an industrial hot dip galvanizing line was studied. The starting point was an industrial CP1100 steel. Samples of this cold rolled steel were analyzed by quenching dilatometry to obtain the CCT curve. Using the dilatometric data, a new heat treatment was proposed and done at CSN facilities, successfully producing a CP 1200 steel. Tension, hardness, bending and hole expansion tests were performed to measure the mechanical properties of the new steel. The microstructural characterization was done using light optical microscopy (LOM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM); neural networks and digital image processing were used to quantify the obtained micrographs. The increase in tension and yielding strengths was explained based on the higher amounts of bainite as well as of bainite-ferrite and bainite-martensite interfaces, found to be less prone to void nucleation.