• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.274-277
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• 2009

There have been a number of works on manufacturing ultrafine grained steels with average ferrite grain sizes of smaller than a few micrometers to develop beneficial high strength steels. Among microstructures in low carbon steels, lath martensite is known to be useful to produce an ultrafine grained ferrite matrix and finely globular cementite particle. Thus, severe plastic deformation and subsequent annealing at lower temperature of lath martensite would become an effective way to produce ultrafine grained steels. However, most ultrafine grained steels exhibited a total elongation of a few per cent in tensile tests. Such a defect is one of the primary factors restricting the potential applications of ultrafine grained steels. Therefore, the improvement of the strength-elongation balance is required for the application of ultrafine grained structural steels. In this study, the effect of deformation temperatures on microstructure, such as ferrite grain size and the distribution of cementite particles, and mechanical property of lath martensite steels, was investigated. Specimens were fabricated through cold rolling or warm rolling and subsequent annealing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.263-265
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• 2009

In this study, ultrafine grained (UFG) oxygen free high conductivity copper (OFHC Cu) having two different grain morphologies, one the severely elongated and the other the equiaxed, was prepared by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) with routes A and $B_c$, respectively. The results of quasi-static tensile tests at $10^{-1}\;s^{-1}$ and $1\;s^{-1}$ and dynamic compression tests at $10^3\;s^{-1}$ order revealed that the equiaxed UFG Cu exhibited higher strength and less ductility compared to the elongated one. The difference of the plastic flow characteristics between the two were rationalized by considering their dislocation mean free length based on the orientation relationship between the possible slip planes and the loading direction.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.432-436
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• 2009

A Cu-Fe-P copper alloy was processed by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) for ultra grain refinement and high strengthening. Two 1mm thick copper sheets, 30 mm wide and 300 mm long, were first degreased and wire-brushed for sound bonding. The sheets were then stacked on top of each other and roll-bonded by about 50% reduction rolling without lubrication at ambient temperature. The bonded sheet was then cut into two pieces of the same dimensions and the same procedure was repeated for the sheets up to eight cycles. Microstructural evolution of the copper alloy with the number of the ARB cycles was investigated by optical microscopy (OM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and electron back scatter diffraction(EBSD). The grain size decreased gradually with the number of ARB cycles, and was reduced to 290 nm after eight cycles. The boundaries above 60% of ultrafine grains formed exhibited high angle boundaries above 15 degrees. In addition, the average misorientation angle of ultrafine grains was 30 degrees.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.474-487
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• 2011

Bars of OFHC Cu with the diameter of 45 mm were processed by equal channel angular pressing up to 16 passes via route $B_c$, and homogeneity of their microstructures and mechanical properties was examined at every four passes which develop the equiaxed ultrafine grains. In general, overall hardness, yield strength and tensile strength increased by 3, 7, and 2 times respectively compared with those of unECAPed sample. Cross-sectional hardness exhibited a concentric distribution. Hardness was the highest at the center of bar and it decreased gradually from center to surface. After 16 passes, overall hardness decreased due to recovery and partial recrystallization. Regardless of the number of passage, yield strength and tensile strength were quite uniform at all positions, but elongation showed some degree of scattering. At 4 passes, coarse and ultrafine grains coexisted at all positions. After 4 passes, uniform equiaxed ultrafine grains were obtained at the center, while uniform elongated ultrafine grains were manifested at the upper half position. At the lower half position, grains were equiaxed but its size were inhomogeneous. It was found that inhomogeneity of grain morphology and grain size distribution at different positions are to be attributed to scattering in elongation but they did not affect strength. The present results reveal the high potential of practical application of equal channel angular pressing on fabrication of large-sized ultrafine grained bars with quite homogeneous mechanical properties.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.6-10
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• 2001

Ultrafine $(CeO_2)_{0.9}(Gd_2O_3)_{0.1}$ solid solution powders synthesized by the glycine-nitrate process, with specific surface areas of $19-23\;\textrm{m}^2$/g were sintered at $1500^{\circ}C$ for various sintering times and then their electrical characteristics were investigated using AC impedance and four-point probe measurements. The electrical resistivity of the sintered $(CeO_2)_{0.9}(Gd_2O_3)_{0.1}$ bodies showed the minimum value at the sintering time of 10 hrs. The minimum total resistivity of the $(CeO_2)_{0.9}(Gd_2O_3)_{0.1}$ bodies sintered at $1500^{\circ}C$ for 10 hrs seems to result from the lowest activation energy for the electrical resistivity by the combination between the activation energies for the resistivities at the grain interior and grain boundary.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.215-218
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• 2006

A study was made to investigate microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of ultra-fine grained (UFG) pure-Ti produced by equal channel angular (ECA) pressings. The deformed structures were analyzed by finite element method and transmission electron microscopy with the increment of straining. After 4 isothermal ECA pressings, initial coarse grains ($30{\mu}m$) were significantly refined to ${\sim}0.3{\mu}m$ with homogeneous distribution of microstructure which was resulted from $180^{\circ}$ rotation of the sample between pressings. UFG pure-Ti exhibited the considerable improvement in yield strength while losing strain hardening capacity as compared to coarse grained microstructure at ambient temperature, which was mainly attributed to ultra-fine grain microstructure with non-equilibrium grain boundaries.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.519-528
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• 2002

The microstructural evolution during the equal channel angular pressing of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was investigated using the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). ECA pressing was carried out isothermally with route C at $600^{\circ}C$ for two types of initial microstructure, i.e., equiaxed and Widmanstatten microstructures. At an initial stage of ECA pressing, the equiaxed microstructure showed more uniform flow than the Widmanstatten microstructure. However, both microstructures were significantly refined revealing nearly equiaxed grains of 0.3$mu extrm{m}$ in diameter with high angle grain boundaries after 4 passes of ECA pressing. These ultrafine gains were found to be stable with little grain growth, when annealed up to $600^{\circ}C$ for 1hr.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.53-60
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• 2023

A wide range of grain size was achieved in a Fe-Cr-Mn austenitic stainless steel (STS) by cold rolling and reversion annealing. The tensile characteristics of the STS were analyzed in terms of the dependence of strain induced martensitic (SIM) transformation on the grain size. In the ultrafine grain regime, the steel showed a high yield strength over 1 GPa, a discontinuous yielding, and a prolonged yield point elongation followed by considerable strain hardening. By increasing the grain size, the discontinuous yielding diminished and the yield point elongation decreased. The microstructural examination revealed that these tensile characteristics are closely related to the suppression of SIM transformation with decreasing the grain size. Especially, the prolonged yield point elongation of the ultrafine grained STS was found to be associated with development of unidirectional ε martensite bands. Based on the microstructural examination of the deformed microstructures, the rationalization of the grain size dependence of SIM transformation was suggested.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.15 no.2 s.83
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• pp.105-111
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• 2006

A study was made to investigate the microstructure and the mechanical properties of low-carbon steel, Al-Mg alloy and Ti-6Al-4V alloy each representing bcc, fcc and hcp crystal structures, respectively fabricated by equal-channel angular(ECA) pressing. After a series of ECA pressings was performed, most grains were significantly refined below ${\mu}m$ in diameter with high mis-orientation of grain boundaries irrespective of different crystal structure used. Regarding the strain hardening capability, tensile tests of ultrafine grain (UFG) dual-phase (ferrite/martensite) steel which was different from UFG ferrite-pearlite steel were carried out at ambient temperature, and corresponding mechanical properties were discussed in relation to modified C-J analysis. Low-temperature and/or high strain-rate superplasticity of the UFG Al-Mg alloy and UFG Ti-6Al-4V alloy were also studied. Based on the analysis used in this study, it was concluded that UFG alloys exhibited the enhanced mechanical properties as compared to coarse-grained (CG) counterparts.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.204-209
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• 2012

In this work, powder metallurgy and severe plastic deformation by high-pressure torsion (HPT) approaches were combined to achieve both full density and grain refinement at the same time. Pure Cu powders were mixed with 5 and 10 vol% diamonds and consolidated into disc-shaped samples at room temperature by HPT at 1.25 GPa and 1 turn, resulting in ultrafine grained metallic matrices embedded with diamonds. Neither heating nor additional sintering was required with the HPT process so that in situ consolidation was successfully achieved at ambient temperature. Significantly refined grain structures of Cu metallic matrices with increasing diamond volume fractions were observed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), which enhanced the microhardness of the Cu-diamond composites.