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journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Semi-solid rolling process of steel strips

Song Renbo , Kang Yonglin, Zhao Aimin
Department of Material Processing and Controlling, School of Material Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Xueyuan Road 30, Beijing 100083, China

a r t i c l e
Article history:

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Semi-solid metal forming (SSF) is recognized as a new forming technology, which has been paid more and more attention by the researchers all over the world. The semi-solid rolling process (Rheo-rolling) combines the fabrication of slurry with continuously rolling as an important neoteric means to achieve near-shape forming. In this paper, an original device of semi-solid rolling has been designed and manufactured to prepare the spring steel60Si2Mn and stainless steel1Cr18Ni9Ti. The semi-solid slurry is successfully fabricated by electromagnetic stirring and rolled into the strips with the thickness of 35 mm, the width of

Received 20 April 2006 Received in revised form 30 May 2007 Accepted 30 June 2007

Keywords: Semi-solid Steel Rolling Strip Non-dendritic

70 mm and the length of 1000 mm. The effects of the stirring parameters, including stirring power and time, on the solid fraction and microstructure of steel, have been investigated through electromagnetic stirring process. The experimental results show that the semi-solid slurry with the solid phase diameter of 50150 m and the solid fraction (fs ) of 565% can be obtained by electromagnetic stirring. The highest ultimate tensile strength and elongation obtained for 60Si2Mn strip with 60% solid fraction are 860 MPa and 13.4%, respectively. For 1Cr18Ni9Ti strip with 60% solid fraction, the highest ultimate tensile strength and elongation are 1022 MPa and 40.6%, respectively. With increasing the solid fraction, the properties of semi-solid rolled products become better. The method of grooved rolling can ameliorate the stress state at the edge of rolled strip, which is benecial to improve the homogenization of microstructure. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Semi-solid metal forming (SSF), rst studied at MIT in the early 1970s, has been recognized as a new forming technology, which is different from the present metal forming methods. In this technique, the alloy is heated to temperatures at which the solid and liquid phases coexist and is then subjected to a forming process. The semi-solid slurry with a non-dendritic microstructure exhibits distinct rheological behavior, and can be cut with a knife (Flemings, 2000). This technology provides several potential advantages over the conventional casting, extrusing and rolling, etc., such as further homogeneous renement of crystal grains, low temperature of forming, long mould life, reduction of porosity,

excellent mechanical properties and near net-shaped forming (Flemings, 2000; Kopp and Horst, 2002; Kang et al., 1997; Zoqui et al., 2002; Liu et al., 2001). Basic research on semi-solid metal forming (SSF) has been put into operation and a number of SSF techniques have been widely applied in industry. Several companies in Europe, Japan and the US have started to manufacture in this technique, producing millions of components annually for motor industry (Chen et al., 2002; Margarido and Robert, 2003; Chiarmetta, 1998; Jung et al., 2001; Iwasaku et al., 1998; Nohn et al., 2000). In the application of SSF technique, at present, it is mainly used to produce the low melting point alloys such as Al-base, Zn-base and Mg-base alloys (Watari et al., 2004; Haga, 2001; Cook et al., 1995; Ichikawa et al., 2002; Tsuchiya et al., 2003; Robert et al., 2002; Song et al., 2002; Kang

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 6233 3174; fax: +86 10 6233 4743. E-mail address: songrb@263.net (R. Song). 0924-0136/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.06.079

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et al., 2001; Seidl et al., 2002; Meuser and Bleck, 2001; Choi and Park, 1998; Seo and Kang, 2005), but the high melting point alloys, for example iron and steel as the most widely useful metal are not extensively studied and applied. Their SSF technique has a great difference from that of the low melting point alloys, for example: (1) the region size of liquid and solid phases coexisting for many steel alloys is smaller; (2) the temperature of two phases coexisting region is higher; (3) the control precision of semi-solid slurry temperature and solid fraction are difcultly ensured; (4) at the high temperature, the conveying and temperature maintaining of slurry are hard to reach, etc. In the foregoing reasons, the research on semisolid steel materials has made less progress since 1990s (Seo and Kang, 2005; Di, 2005; Bao et al., 2003; Haghayeghi et al., 2005). Few investigations were made in the semi-solid forming of steels, such as spring steel and stainless steel (Haghayeghi et al., 2005; Li et al., 2005). Different methods have been used to fabricate steels with non-dendritic structures, such as electromagnetic stirring, partial re-melting and ultra-rening using inoculants (Tsuchiya et al., 2003; Li et al., 2005). The present work used the electromagnetic stirring method to obtain semi-solid slurry. At the same time, spring steel60Si2Mn and stainless steel1Cr18Ni9Ti were rolled into thick strips in the semi-solid state with different solid fractions. It is aimed at studying the microstructure and properties of the strips to establish the feasibility of semi-solid rolling for the production of the steel strips. According to the present research work, it has been shown that semi-solid rolling process combines the casting and hot rolling into a single step for near net-shape production, compared with the conventional hot-rolled metallurgical process. Besides being such a cost-effective process, semisolid rolling process possesses irregular crystal grains such as rosette-type primary crystals in the microstructures because of sufcient agitation during solidication (Flemings, 2000). The overall homogenization of the macrostructures in the whole part of steel ingot can be achieved. Therefore, comparing to the twin-roll strip casting process (Watari et al., 2004; Haga, 2001; Cook et al., 1995; Ichikawa et al., 2002; Di, 2005; Bao et al., 2003), they have benecial effects on microstructure of product such as reducing segregation, improving inclusion size distribution and rening microstructural and textural homogeneity (Tsuchiya et al., 2003; Robert et al., 2002; Song et al., 2002; Kang et al., 2001; Seidl et al., 2002; Meuser and Bleck, 2001; Choi and Park, 1998; Seo and Kang, 2005; Di, 2005; Bao et al., 2003).

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of semi-solid steels preparation and rheo-rolling. 1: Electromagnetic stirring; 2, tundish; 3, liquid steel; 4, bung; 5, semi-solid slurry; 6, stirring crucible; 7, water-cooling roller.

2.

Experimental procedures

The spring steel60Si2Mn and stainless steel1Cr18Ni9Ti are employed as experimental materials. Their chemical compositions of the specimens are shown in Table 1. The reasons

for selecting them are that they have the more common usage and a wider freezing range than other steels. The difference between the liquidus and solidus temperatures are 70 C for 60Si2Mn and 40 C for 1Cr18Ni9Ti, respectively. Semi-solid temperature of 60Si2Mn used in this investigation lies between 1400 C and 1470 C, and the temperature for 1Cr18Ni9Ti is between 1390 C and 1430 C. Semi-solid rolling process was performed using the experimental device of semisolid rolling system, which is shown in Fig. 1. The device consists of induction melting furnace, electromagnetic stirring, tundish, bung and rolls, etc. After melting, the molten steel is transferred to the tundish (shown in Fig. 1) where the semi-solid slurries are fabricated by electromagnetic stirring (EMS), which is a method of obtaining the spheroidal microstructure (Kopp and Horst, 2002; Meuser and Bleck, 2001). EMS, on the other hand, due in part to its high production rate, has become the main method of producing semi-solid slurry commercially. EMS also avoids contact of molten metal with stirrers, and in some cases the crucible, and may be easier to implement for high temperature alloys. For these above reasons, we decide to use the EMS to fabricate the

Table 1 The chemical compositions of semi-solid 60Si2Mn and 1Cr18Ni9Ti (wt.%) C

60Si2Mn 1Cr18Ni9Ti 0.61 0.10

Si
1.83 0.10

Mn
0.70 2.10

Cr
17.43

Ni
10.63

Ti
0.59

Fe
Balance

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semi-solid steel slurry with various solid fractions, fs , obtained by changing the stirring parameter, such as stirring power and time. The temperature of semi-solid slurry is measured by a thermocouple inserted within stirring crucible. The temperature accuracy in this study is 5 C. When the temperature of the semi-solid slurry reaches the temperature of required solid fraction, the rolling test is performed. The vertical twin strip rolling mill is used in the present study. Roller is made of nodular cast iron and cooled by the circulating water through the holes inside the rollers. After the strip exits the roll gap, the strip is usually water-cooled. A slot-type ceramic nozzle is used to achieve a uniform ow across the width. As semi-solid metal feeds through two rotating rolls, there is a formation of solidied shell near the contact region between slurry and rolls. At the same time, its thickness is reduced by the rolling action of the rotating rolls. In this experiment, the roll speed is 25 mm/s. The thickness of the rolled strip is 35 mm, the width of 70 mm and the length of 1000 mm. In order to examine the microstructural evolution of specimens during rolling, the rolled products are quickly quenched in cool water immediately without any additional heat treatment, and then they are polished and etched. The etching reagent for 60Si2Mn and 1Cr18Ni9Ti was chrysolepic acid and nitro-muriatic acid, respectively, and their microstructures were observed by use of optical microscope. Tests of tensile strength are performed to measure the mechanical properties of the rolled products. The specimens were cut from the midsection of the strip parallel to the rolling direction. Tensile properties were measured by using at tensile specimens with 25 mm gauge length, 3 mm gauge thickness and 4 mm gauge width.

3.
3.1. strip

Results and discussion

Microstructures of semi-solid slurry and rolled

The as-casted microstructures at the same magnication of 60Si2Mn and 1Cr18Ni9Ti are shown in Fig. 2, showing typical interdendritic structure. Fig. 3 shows the microstructures at the same magnication of semi-solid slurry60Si2Mn fabricated by EMS under different stirring power and stirring time with the temperature of 1440 C. It can be observed that as the stirring power and stirring time increase, the grain size

decreases and the grain shape becomes more non-dendritic. At stirring time of 60 s and stirring power of 0.8 kW, the spherical primary grains nearly cannot be obtained, and only the ne, equiaxed dendrites can be observed (see Fig. 3a). The solid fraction is only about 5% under this condition. From the above phenomena, it can be inferred that in smaller stirring power and shorter time the shearing stress produced by electromagnetic stirring appears to have no enough efciency in breaking dendrites and introducing ner globules. With the stirring power and time increasing, the solid fraction of the slurry continues increasing and the spherical grains are more and more. The grain size is also decreased. At stirring time of 360 s and stirring power of 1.2 kW, a homogeneous microstructure together with ne and well-distributed globules is highlighted (see Fig. 3h). The most globules size is seen at 80 m. The measured solid phase fraction (fs ) in this sample is 60%. Fig. 4 shows the microstructures at the same magnication of semi-solid slurry1Cr18Ni9Ti under different stirring power and stirring time with the temperature of 1420 C. The same behavior as for 60Si2Mn could be observed. At stirring time of 365 s and stirring power of 1.4 kW, most globules are at 50 m. The solid phase fraction (fs ) is 65% (see Fig. 4h). From the above experiments, the primary grains will become spherical or nearly spherical under the electromagnetic stirring condition, which may be related with the following reasons. Under the condition of electromagnetic stirring, intense convection occurs in liquid, resulting in the change of growth condition of crystals. The primary grains will not grow in dendrite form, but grow in non-dendritic form, similar to sphere shape (Ichikawa et al., 2002; Tsuchiya et al., 2003; Robert et al., 2002; Song et al., 2002). Compared with Fig. 2, the developed dendrite arms disappeared and the non-dendritic structure formed, composed of spherical primary solid phases and ne, equiaxed dendrites. A model of mechanical fracture of dendrites and a theory of dendrites re-melting and fracture can be used to explain the formation of the above microstructure (Meuser and Bleck, 2001; Choi and Park, 1998; Seo and Kang, 2005; Di, 2005; Bao et al., 2003; Haghayeghi et al., 2005). The dendrite arms break off at the roots due to shear force, or the dendrite arms melt off at their roots due to heat uctuation (Liu et al., 2001; Jung et al., 2001). The larger the stirring power is, the more vigorous the slurry motion and the stronger the temperature uctuation of the primary solid phase will be, and it is much more possible for the dendrite arms to re-melt on their roots. The

Fig. 2 Microstructures of the as-casted specimens: (a) 60Si2Mn and (b) 1Cr18Ni9Ti.

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Fig. 3 Microstructures of semi-solid 60Si2Mn at different stirring power and time: (a) 0.8 kW, 60 s; (b) 0.8 kW, 80 s; (c) 0.8 kW, 100 s; (d) 0.8 kW, 120 s; (e) 1.2 kW, 120 s; (f) 1.2 kW, 180 s; (g) 1.2 kW, 260 s; (h) 1.2 kW, 360 s.

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Fig. 4 Microstructures of semi-solid 1Cr18Ni9Ti at different stirring power and time: (a) 0.58 kW, 80 s; (b) 0.58 kW, 120 s; (c) 0.58 kW, 150 s; (d) 0.8 kW, 120 s; (e) 0.8 kW, 180 s; (f) 1.4 kW, 180 s; (g) 1.4 kW, 230 s; (h) 1.4 kW, 365 s.

fragments of the dendrites are brought into the inner part of the melt by convection, and become nuclei of new grains. The grains ripen into non-dendritic spheroids in accordance with thermo-mechanical laws also by Ostwald ripening or Coalescence effect (Haghayeghi et al., 2005). If the stirring time is long enough, the primary solid phase will become more

spherical, which has been proved by the microstructures in Figs. 3 and 4. Concerning the semi-solid processing, solid particle morphology, especially the solid fraction in the slurry has a pronounced effect on ow behavior of slurry and on the microstructure of the nal product. Figs. 5 and 6 show

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Fig. 5 Cross-sectional optical micrographs of the rolled strips-60Si2Mn with various solid fractions, fs .

the cross-sectional microstructures of the rolled strips for 60Si2Mn and 1Cr18Ni9Ti. They are subjected to reduction of 60% in the semi-solid state with various solid fractions, fs . In the case of solid fraction with lower value, such as fs = 20% or 30%, the ne, equiaxed dendrites transforming from the liquid phases through the thickness of strip are observed in the upper and lower surfaces. The ne globular solid particles, i.e. the white grain-shaped portions, aggregate at the center of the strip. As the microstructure photograph shows, the distribution of solid and liquid phases is not uniform at the surface and center areas of the specimen. It showed the macrosegregation of the liquidsolid phase took place because of the different ow behavior between the liquid and solid phase

during the rolling deformation (Liu et al., 2001; Chen et al., 2002; Margarido and Robert, 2003; Chiarmetta, 1998; Jung et al., 2001; Iwasaku et al., 1998; Nohn et al., 2000; Tsuchiya et al., 2003; Robert et al., 2002; Song et al., 2002; Kang et al., 2001; Seidl et al., 2002; Meuser and Bleck, 2001). The liquid phase plays an important part in the lubrication of the movement of solid grain. If the grain shape is globular, the liquid phase at the boundaries of the grain leads to the smooth movement of the grain. However, if the grain shape is not globular, the adjacent grains stick together and agglomerate due to insufcient lubrication and, in the long run, the liquid phase drains out from the grain network, which process is called macrosegregation of the liquidsolid phase (Li et al., 2005). In the case that

Table 2 The mechanical properties of semi-solid rolled strip for 60Si2Mn and 1Cr18Ni9Ti Solid fraction fs (%) Yield strength (MPa)
60Si2Mn 40 50 60 1Cr18Ni9Ti 40 50 60 457 462 473

Mechanical properties Ultimate tensile strength (MPa)

512 575 860

Elongation (%)
8.9 10.6 13.4

503 496 489

617 665 1022

16.9 27.4 40.6

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Fig. 6 Cross-sectional optical micrographs of the rolled strips-1Cr16Ni9Ti with various solid fractions, fs .

grain is globular; the effective liquid fraction is much higher than the nominal liquid fraction (1 fs ). Relatively small liquid pools were also located inside the grains (Kang et al., 2001). With increasing the solid fraction, under the level of 50% or 60%, the deformation of solid particles takes place, and the shape of solid phase is changed from roundness to ellipse (see Fig. 7). Because of the network formation of solid particles, the uidity of liquid phases greatly decreases, which results in the liquid phase surrounding the solid particles. Some entrapped liquid phases between the solid phases ow together with surrounded solid phases during the deformation (see Fig. 7). At the same time, the degree of macrosegregation also decreases due to the uniform distribution of the liquid and solid phases (see Fig. 5).

grain becomes ner according to the HallPetch relationship. In the present study, a ne, homogeneous microstructure was achieved in the strips with the solid fraction of 60% by semisolid rolling methods. Therefore, the results show that the increase of the solid fraction enhances homogeneous deformation, thereby increasing strength as well as ductility (Jung et al., 2001). In addition, the more globular the solid particle shape is, the higher the value of tensile strength and elongation is. The highest ultimate tensile strength and elongation obtained for 60Si2Mn with solid fraction of 60% are 860 MPa and 13.4%, respectively. For 1Cr18Ni9Ti with 60% solid fraction, the highest ultimate tensile strength and elongation are 1022 MPa and 40.6%, respectively.

3.2.

Mechanical properties of rolled strip

Table 2 lists the mechanical properties of rolled strip of semisolid 60Si2Mn and 1Cr18Ni9Ti with various solid fractions at room temperature. The yield strength of the as-rheo-rolled specimens is similar whatever the value of solid fraction is high or lower. The value of yield strength for 60Si2Mn is about 465 MPa, and for 1Cr18Ni9Ti is 500 MPa. However, the strip with the solid fraction of 60% is seen to have much higher values of tensile strength and elongation compared to the strips with the solid fraction of 40% and 50%. It is well known that the strength of a metallic material increases as the crystal

Fig. 7 Microstructure of entrapped liquid phases between the solid phases (fs = 58%).

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3.3. Flow behavior of semi-solid slurry at different shapes of roller

In semi-solid rolling process, it is necessary to properly control the ow behavior of semi-solid slurries for high-quality products. There are a number of parameters that affect the ow behavior of semi-solid slurries such as viscosity, reduction, shape of roller, roll velocity, deformation temperature, etc. In the present study, the effects of shape of roller on ow behavior were investigated. Fig. 8 shows the microstructural difference at the same magnication of rolled strips at the edge of the specimen under two types of passes for 1Cr18Ni9Ti. In the plain barrel pass, the semi-solid slurry receives the acting force from the roller in the thickness direction and is

not restricted in the width direction during rolling. The liquid and solid phases are detached and a number of liquid phases ow to the edge during deformation, which results in the heterogeneous distribution of the liquid and solid phases (see Fig. 8a). In order to decrease the above phenomena, the shape of roller was redesigned with a box groove pass (see Fig. 8b). The characteristic of the box groove pass is that the roller has a closed pass to optimize the semi-solid slurry ow pattern. The closed pass prevents the lateral spreading of the strip during rolling, indicating that the stress state is changed at the edge of the specimen. The ow rate of liquid phase decreases near the edge, which results in the uniform distribution of the solid and liquid phases (see Fig. 8b) (Song et al., 2002).

Fig. 8 Microstructures of semi-solid rolled strips at different shapes of roller: (a) plain barrel pass and (b) box groove pass.

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4.

Conclusions

In practical case, the electromagnetic stirring technique is a viable process to obtain a semi-solid steel material with globular primary phase. With stirring power and time increasing, the solid fraction increases and the grain size decreases. The semi-solid rolling process is applied to produce steel strip. The microstructure of rolled strip produced by this process consists of the spherical solid particles and the ne, equiaxed dendrites, which is different from the conventional dendrite structure. The macrosegregation is observed in the specimen due to the separation of solid and liquid phases during rolling deformation. The macrosegregation and the mechanical properties of specimen have a close relationship with the solid fraction. In order to improve the quality of the rolled strip, the box groove pass is used. By changing the stress state at the edge of the specimen, the homogeneity of microstructure increases.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 59995440 and 50504002). The project was also sponsored by the Scientic Research foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry.

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