Recent advances in friction-stir welding : Process, weldment structure and properties

This article presents an overview of the developments in stainless steels made since the 1990s. Some of the new applications that involve the use of stainless steel are also introduced. A brief introduction to the various classes of stainless steels, their precipitate phases and the status quo of their production around the globe is given first. The advances in a variety of subject areas that have been made recently will then be presented. These recent advances include (1) new findings on the various precipitate phases (the new J phase, new orientation relationships, new phase diagram for the Fe–Cr system, etc.); (2) new suggestions for the prevention/mitigation of the different problems and new methods for their detection/measurement and (3) new techniques for surface/bulk property enhancement (such as laser shot peening, grain boundary engineering and grain refinement). Recent developments in topics like phase prediction, stacking fault energy, superplasticity, metadynamic recrystallisation and the calculation of mechanical properties are introduced, too. In the end of this article, several new applications that involve the use of stainless steels are presented. Some of these are the use of austenitic stainless steels for signature authentication (magnetic recording), the utilisation of the cryogenic magnetic transition of the sigma phase for hot spot detection (the Sigmaplugs), the new Pt-enhanced radiopaque stainless steel (PERSS) coronary stents and stainless steel stents that may be used for magnetic drug targeting. Besides recent developments in conventional stainless steels, those in the high-nitrogen, low-Ni (or Ni-free) varieties are also introduced. These recent developments include new methods for attaining very high nitrogen contents, new guidelines for alloy design, the merits/demerits associated with high nitrogen contents, etc.

Recent developments in stainless steels

Nitinol, a near equiatomic intermetallic of nickel and titanium, is the most widely known and used shape memory alloy. Owing to its capacity to undergo a thermal or stress induced martensitic phase transformation, Nitinol displays recoverable strains that are more than an order of magnitude greater than in traditional alloys, specifically as high as 10%. Since its discovery in the 1960s, Nitinol has been used for its shape memory properties for couplings and actuators, although its contemporary use has been in for medical devices. For these applications, the stress induced transformation (‘superelasticity’) has been used extensively for self-expanding implantable devices such as endovascular stents and vena cava filters, and for tools such as endodontic files. Most of these applications involve cyclically varying biomechanical stresses or strains that drive the need to fully understand the fatigue and fracture resistance of this alloy. Here we review the existing knowledge base on the fatigue of Nitinol, both in terms of their stress or strain life (total life) and damage tolerant (crack propagation) behaviour, together with their fracture toughness properties. We further discuss the application of such data to the fatigue design and life prediction methodologies for Nitinol implant devices used in the medical industry.

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Mechanical fatigue and fracture of Nitinol

Grain size effects on the fatigue response of nanocrystalline metals

Many manufacturing processes can induce residual stresses in components. These residual stresses influence the mean stress during cyclic loading and so can influence the fatigue life. However, the initial residual stresses induced during manufacturing may not remain stable during the fatigue life. This paper provides a broad and extensive literature survey addressing the stability of surface and near-surface residual stress fields during fatigue, including redistribution and relaxation due to static mechanical load, repeated cyclic loads, thermal exposure and crack extension. The implications of the initial and evolving residual stress state for fatigue behaviour and life prediction are addressed, with special attention to fatigue crack growth. This survey is not a critical analysis; no detailed attempt is made to evaluate the relative merits of the different explanations and models proposed, to propose new explanations or models or to provide quantitative conclusions. Primary attention is given to the residual stresses resulting from four major classes of manufacturing operations: shot peening and related surface treatments, cold expansion of holes, welding and machining.

A literature survey on the stability and significance of residual stresses during fatigue

The low-cycle fatigue (LCF) behaviour of SUS304-HP austenitic stainless steel was investigated systematically using tension-compression cycling under fully reversed total strain amplitude control conditions at room temperature in laboratory air. In addition to tests at constant strain amplitudes, incremental step tests (IST) were also carried out. Cyclic stress response, during companion specimen tests (CST), revealed combinations of a variable cyclic hardening, stable behaviour and softening, depending on the applied cyclic strain amplitude, while during incremental step tests it exhibited cyclic hardening character at all strain levels. Microstructure observations using optical and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that with increasing total strain amplitudes the slip band density increased and the dislocation structure changed from a planar array to a more cellular-like structure. Cyclic deformation-induced austenite/martensite transformation was observed at higher cyclic strain amplitudes. The change in microstructures during cycling is responsible for the fatigue hardening/softening behaviour of the material. The SEM micrographs revealed that at low-strain amplitudes the inclusion-type nucleation occurred near the surface, while at the higher strain amplitudes crack initiation characterized by cleavage cracking occurred not only near the surface but also in the interior of the specimen. Linear or single-slope behaviour was seen both in cyclic stress–strain and Coffin-Mason plots. Masing cyclic stress–strain behaviour was presented only in the IST method but not in the CST method.

The low-cycle fatigue, deformation and final fracture behaviour of an austenitic stainless steel

Superior fatigue crack growth properties in newly developed weld metal

Further investigation of Neuber’s rule and the equivalent strain energy density (ESED) method

The fatigue strength of developed box welds was improved about two times of the conventional box welds. The improved welds used the low transformation temperature welding material which contains 10% Cr and 10% Ni. The expansion of the developed welding material was 0.55% due to the transformation from austenite to martensite. This expansion induced the compressive residual stress around welds. On low stress range condition, the stress ratio effect by this compressive residual stress avoids the fatigue crack initiation at the weld toe. On high stress range condition, the fatigue crack initiated from weld toe and the fretting was observed on the fractured surface. While in the conventional welds, no trace of fretting was observed.

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Naoyuki Suzuki

Papers

The low-cycle fatigue, deformation and final fracture behaviour of an austenitic stainless steel

Superior fatigue crack growth properties in newly developed weld metal

Further investigation of Neuber’s rule and the equivalent strain energy density (ESED) method

Fatigue strength improvement of box‐welded joints using low transformation temperature welding material

Unique fatigue threshold and growth properties of welded joints in a tensile residual stress field