The impact of 11 alloying elements, namely Mg, Ti, In, Sn, Al, Ag, Co, Nb and B, at two nominal concentration of 1 and 3 at \%, and Ir and W, at only a nominal concentration of 3 at \%, on the evolution of texture of Cu was investigated. The behavior of the alloy films was compared with that for a pure Cu film. The films were electron beam evaporated onto oxidized Si wafers and had thicknesses in the range of 420-560 nm. Annealing was carried out at 3degreesC/s to 400degreesC, 650degreesC and 950degreesC. For the lowest annealing temperature, the samples were held isothermally for 5 h, while for the higher annealing temperatures, the samples were cooled immediately after reaching temperature. In all cases, annealing resulted in the strengthening of film texture. For most of the films, the <111> component either remained or became the strongest fiber component with the increase in annealing temperature. The interesting exceptions were the two Mg-containing films for which the <110> component was the strongest. Whereas in the as-deposited state all alloy films, except the nominally 3 at\% Nb film, had weaker textures than pure Cu, certain combinations of alloy concentration and annealing conditions resulted in more strongly textured films when compared with pure Cu. For example, the most strongly textured film after the 400degreesC and 950degreesC anneals were, respectively, Cu(Ti) and Cu(Nb), both nominally 3 at\%. Film texture was also related to grain growth for the 400degreesC-annealed films. The behavior of the alloy films is discussed in terms of the various driving and pinning forces for grain growth and texture evolution in thin films. No simple correlations of alloy film behavior with atom size, electronegativity or the binary alloy phase diagram were found.

The dependence of magnetic properties such as core loss and peak permeability on the temper rolling process has been studied in a semiprocessed, cold-rolled magnetic lamination (CRML) steel. The results indicate that temper rolling parameters such as temper mill extension and roll roughness have a significant influence on the magnetic properties. Material processed with high temper mill extension and smooth work rolls shows a sharper texture, which results in highly anisotropic peak permeability values between the rolling direction and the transverse direction. Texture analysis suggests that temper rolling with both high extension and smooth work rolls may concentrate strain at the surface, which would explain the development of the rolling texture at the surface.

Recrystallization and grain growth of gold bonding wire have been investigated with electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD). The bonding wires were wire-drawn to an equivalent strain greater than 11.4 with final diameter between 25 and 30 mum. Annealing treatments were carried out in a salt bath at 300 degreesC, and 400 degreesC for 1, 10, 60 minutes, and 1 day. The textures of the drawn gold wires contain major 111), minor (100), and small fractions of complex fiber components. The 100) oriented regions are located in the center and surface of the wire, and the complex fiber components are located near the surface. The (111) oriented regions occur throughout the wire. Maps of the local Taylor factor can be used to distinguish the 111 and 100) regions. The 111) oriented grains have large Taylor factors and might be expected to have higher stored energy as a result of plastic deformation compared to the (100) regions. Both (111 and 100 grains grow during annealing. In particular, 100) grains in the surface and the center part grow into the (111 regions at 300 degreesC and 400 degreesC. Large misorientations (angles >40 deg) are present between the (111) and (100) regions, which means that the boundaries between them are likely to have high mobility. Grain average misorientation (GAM) is greater in the 111 than in the 100) regions. It appears that the stored energy, as indicated by geometrically necessary dislocation content in the subgrain structure, is larger in the (111) than in the 100 regions.

Abnormal subgrain growth has been proposed as the nucleation mechanism for recrystallization. To test this hypothesis, Monte Carlo Potts model simulations of subgrain growth were performed on single-phase, strain-free subgrain structures with experimentally validated microstructure, texture, boundary character, and boundary properties. Results indicate that abnormal growth events emerge spontaneously during evolution in such systems, and abnormal subgrains behave as predicted by mean field theory. An analysis predicts the frequency of abnormal growth events as a function of local neighborhood and the boundary misorientation distribution. A recrystallization model is derived based on the abnormal subgrain growth analysis. Using data for aluminum subgrain structures, the model predicts reasonable recrystallized grain sizes as a function of von Mises strain. The extension of these results to abnormal grain growth is discussed. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.

An Expert System is proposed in this work. to conduct computational exploration of the deformation and restoration behavior of a medium C-Mn steel under high strain rate conditions, at elevated temperatures and complex strain paths that occur in rod rolling process. The expert system computes appropriate thermomechanical parameters necessary for describing rod rolling process in detail and then utilizes these parameters in mathematical models to determine microstructure evolution during a typical industrial-scale rod rolling process. Microstructure simulation in rod rolling is a challenging problem due to the fact that several softening mechanisms may operate sequentially or concurrently during each deformation step. Different softening mechanisms have very different impact on microstructure development and therefore it is important to investigate the particular combinations of processing conditions under which transition of operating softening mechanisms occurs. In the present work, the transition from dynamic to metadynamic recrystallization is studied in detail based on the criteria of critical strain, austenite grain size and Zener-Hollomon parameter when the interpass (interdeformation) time is very short of the order of few milliseconds during the later stages of rod rolling. Computational results are subsequently validated by comparing the program output to in-plant measured microstructure data. The proposed expert system is designed as an off-line simulation toot to examine and assess the various options for thermomechanical process optimization.

An Expert System is proposed in this work to conduct computational exploration of the deformation and restoration behaviour of a medium C-Mn steel under high strain rate conditions, at elevated temperatures and complex strain paths that occur in rod rolling process. The expert system computes appropriate thermomechanical parameters necessary for describing rod rolling process in detail and then utilizes these parameters in mathematical models to determine microstructure evolution during a typical industrial-scale rod rolling process. Microstructure simulation in rod rolling is a challenging problem due to the fact that several softening processes may operate sequentially or concurrently during each deformation step. Different softening processes have very different impact on microstructure development and therefore it is important to investigate the particular combinations of processing conditions under which transition of operating softening processes occurs. In the present work, the transition from dynamic to metadynamic recrystallization is studied in detail based on the criteria of critical strain, austenite grain size and Zener-Hollomon parameter when the interpass (interdeformation) time is very short of the order of few milliseconds during the later stages of rod rolling. Computational results are subsequently validated by comparing the program output to in-plant measured microstructure data. The proposed expert system is designed as an off-line simulation tool to examine and assess the various options for thermomechanical process optimization.

An Expert System is proposed in this work. to conduct computational exploration of the deformation and restoration behavior of a medium C-Mn steel under high strain rate conditions, at elevated temperatures and complex strain paths that occur in rod rolling process. The expert system computes appropriate thermomechanical parameters necessary for describing rod rolling process in detail and then utilizes these parameters in mathematical models to determine microstructure evolution during a typical industrial-scale rod rolling process. Microstructure simulation in rod rolling is a challenging problem due to the fact that several softening mechanisms may operate sequentially or concurrently during each deformation step. Different softening mechanisms have very different impact on microstructure development and therefore it is important to investigate the particular combinations of processing conditions under which transition of operating softening mechanisms occurs. In the present work, the transition from dynamic to metadynamic recrystallization is studied in detail based on the criteria of critical strain, austenite grain size and Zener-Hollomon parameter when the interpass (interdeformation) time is very short of the order of few milliseconds during the later stages of rod rolling. Computational results are subsequently validated by comparing the program output to in-plant measured microstructure data. The proposed expert system is designed as an off-line simulation toot to examine and assess the various options for thermomechanical process optimization.