The effects of trace Ca and Sr addition on dynamic precipitates, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior, and texture evolution of Mg–5Zn alloy sheets fabricated by high strain rate rolling (HSRR) were investigated by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Zn-rich precipitates formed with plate shapes, short-rod shapes, and near-spherical shapes, indicating that the most important function of adding Ca and Sr is to promote the precipitation process. The precipitate density increases, but the precipitate size and DRX volume fraction decrease with the addition of the alloying elements. It is concluded that the effects of combined Ca/Sr addition on promoting precipitation and refining precipitate size are more effective than that of single Ca addition, and the reduction in DRX volume fraction can be attributed to the inhibition of fine precipitation on the nucleation and growth of DRX. Moreover, the macro-texture intensity is mainly related to DRX as the DRX grains are much more randomly oriented than deformed grains. In addition, the texture intensity in DRX regions is primarily associated with the precipitates, which can inhibit DRX grain rotation due to their pinning effect on the grain boundaries.

To simulate the effects of hot working parameters on microstructure and flow resistance during dynamic recrystallization (DRX) of a Ni–Cr–Mo-based C276 superalloy, a 2D mesoscopic model has been established using cellular automaton (CA) method. The isothermal hot compression tests were performed on a Gleeble 1500 thermal-mechanical simulator at the temperature range of 1273–1473 K and strain rate range of 0.001–5 s−1. The flow stress behaviors were then obtained and the microstructures of quenching specimen were observed after compression. Then the dislocation density evolution, nucleation and grain growth during hot compression were determined from experiments and integrated to the CA model. The topology of microstructure evolution and deformation resistance were calculated using the developed CA model and compared with the experimental ones. The CA simulation results show reasonable agreements with the experiments, implying the developed CA can capture the effects of processing parameters on the DRX behavior of C276 superalloy.

In the present study, hot deformation behavior of a FCC high-entropy alloy CoCuFeMnNi has been investigated to explore the stress–strain response for a wide range of temperatures and strain rates. The deformation response has been examined by plotting a processing map and examining the evolution of microstructure and texture in each of the temperature–strain rate domain. Hot compression tests were carried out in the temperature range 850–1050 °C at strain rates varying from 0.001 s−1 to 10 s−1. Stress–strain curves indicate characteristic softening behavior due to dynamic recrystallization (DRX). DRX has been observed along grain boundaries, shear bands, as well as in the interior of deformed grains. The size of dynamically recrystallized grains shows a strong dependence on deformation temperature and increases with temperature. A high degree of twin formation takes place in the DRX grains evolved inside the shear bands, and the extent of twinning decreases at high temperatures. The optimal processing window has been estimated based on strain rate sensitivity and has been validated with detailed analyses of microstructure and texture. The best region for thermo-mechanical processing has been identified as in the temperature range 850–950 °C at strain rate 10−1 s−1.

Hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of as-cast Mn18Cr18N austenitic stainless steel were investigated by isothermal compression experiments. The results indicate that the microstructure evolution of the as-cast Mn18Cr18N steel is sensitive to strain rates. Discontinuous dynamic recrystallization, characterized by nucleation and growth controlled by grain boundary migration, occurs at lower strain rates. However, higher strain rates result in higher adiabatic temperature rise, which could be contributed to dynamic recrystallization (DRX) nucleation and growth by acceleration boundary migration. In addition, at higher strain rates, a large number of deformation microbands in the interior of coarse columnar grains were observed, which would provide potential nucleation sites for DRX. Meanwhile, a great number of Σ3 twins were observed, which reveals that twinning accelerates the separation of subgrains from bulging grain boundaries, and the iterative processing among Σ3 twins and its variants promotes the transformation from specific CSL grain boundaries to random high-angle boundaries.

The constitutive equation was established based on the consideration of strain compensation to describe the hot deformation behavior of low carbon reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steels at the temperatures of 850–1050 °C and the strain rates of 0.01–10 s−1. The result indicates that the flow stress is increased with the increase of strain rate but decreased with increase of deformation temperature. During the hot deformation process, the increase of temperature is beneficial to attain the complete dynamic recrystallization (DRX). However, excessively high temperature leads to grow up of dynamic recrystallized grain. Higher strain rate leads to finer recrystallized grains. The material constants (α, n, A) and deformation activation energy (Q) are calculated by the regression analysis. The increase of strain caused the decrease of Q, indicating the DRX occurred more easily. In addition, the developed constitutive equation could accurately predict the hot deformation behavior of the low carbon RAFM steel.

In the present paper, 10 vol%TiC/Ti–6Al–3Sn–3.5Zr–0.4Mo–0.75Nb–0.35Si composite produced via in situ casting technique was tested in the temperature range from room temperature to 900 °C and much attention was paid on the microstructural evolution during high-temperature tensile test. It was found that the variation of microstructures in deformation zones with strain exhibited different trends at different temperatures. Below 600 °C, dislocation density increased with strain over the entire strain range. As temperature increased to 700 °C, dislocations proliferated rapidly in the initial deformation and then dislocation annihilated through dynamic recovery. Above 800 °C, the variation of microstructures in deformation zones with strain was similar to that at 700 °C at the beginning but at higher strain, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) occurred, leading to the formation of equiaxed microstructure. Microstructural evolution in deformation zones corresponded to the variation of tensile stress–strain characteristics with temperature, reflecting the hardening or softening feature of matrix. Dynamic recovery ascribed to the flow softening of the composite at 700 °C, while flow softening is owing to dynamic recovery and DRX above 800 °C. In addition, matrix softening should show different trends in different temperature ranges.

The classical dynamic recrystallization (DRX) kinetics models, such as Avrami equation, are often used to describe the DRX behaviors of alloys. However, it is found that the classical DRX kinetics models cannot be directly applied to evaluate DRX volume fractions under inconstant deformation conditions, such as at fluctuant deformation temperature and strain rate. It obviously limits their application in the practical industrial production. Therefore, an improved DRX kinetics model is proposed based on the hypothesis that the derivatives of DRX volume fraction with respect to strain only depends on the current deformation temperature, strain rate, and DRX volume fraction. To verify the improved DRX kinetics model, the hot compressive tests in which the strain rate is inconstant are carried out on a solution-treated Ni-based superalloy. Experimental results indicate that the improved DRX kinetics model can well predict the DRX behavior under inconstant deformation conditions.

The deformation behaviors (flow behavior, power dissipation, dynamic recrystallization, and microstructure evolution) of a typical powder metallurgy nickel-based superalloy were investigated in compression tests at temperatures range of 1020–1140 °C and strain rates range of 0.001–1.0 s−1 with the true strains of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7, respectively. The efficiency of power dissipation can be shown by the power dissipation maps at different true strains. The results showed that true strain had a great effect on the power dissipation. Besides, the deformed microstructures were investigated. The processes of microstructure evolution at different deformation temperatures and strain rates are different. The continuous dynamic recrystallization takes place at the deformation condition of 1080 °C/0.1 s−1. The fine and uniform dynamic recrystallized grains gradually replace the pre-existing grains with the increase of true strain. The discontinuous dynamic recrystallization takes place at the deformation condition of 1110 °C/0.001 s−1. The fine dynamic recrystallized grains grow up and a part of new fine grains appear in the dynamic recrystallized grains because of the periodic dynamic recrystallization.

To study the hot deformation behavior of the Ti–22Al–25Nb alloy, isothermal compression tests were conducted at the temperature range of 930–1080 °C with strain rates of 0.001–1.0 s−1. Both the strain rate and the deformation temperature have a significant influence on the stress–strain behavior of the Ti–22Al–25Nb alloy. A hyperbolic–sine constitutive equation is established to quantitatively demonstrate the relationship between the parameters involved, and the hot deformation activation energy Q is determined as 621 kJ/mol. To optimize the processing window, a hot processing map is established, which is related to the microstructure evolution in hot working. The lamellar globularization as well as the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) would contribute to the stable regions with high power dissipation, while the adiabatic shear bands would lead to unstable regions. Moreover, an Avrami-type kinetics model is applied to examine the evolution of DRX during isothermal deformation process.

The microstructure evolution of a typical nickel-based superalloy was studied in the temperature range of 960–1160 °C with the strain rate of 0.001 s−1 by using electron backscattered diffraction technique. Based on the grain orientation spread method, the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) grains were distinguished from the deformed grains. The results revealed that the volume fraction and the size of DRX grains increased with the increasing deformation temperatures. Most of the original Σ3 boundaries lost their twin characteristics due to crystal rotations during hot deformation. Meanwhile, lots of new Σ3 boundaries were formed in the DRX grains mainly by growth accidents. Moreover, the deformation temperature had a similar effect on the fraction of Σ3 boundary and the Σ3 boundary density in the DRX domains, which increased firstly and then decreased with the increasing deformation temperature. The Σ3 boundary density was analyzed as a function of grain size, and the critical grain size below which no twin forms was calculated to be 2.06 µm. In addition, the coherent Σ3 boundaries were easier to form at the higher deformation temperature due to their lower boundary energy.

The dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior of Ni–18.3Cr–6.4Co–5.9W–4Mo–2.19Al–1.16Ti superalloy was investigated by means of isothermal compression tests in the temperature range of 1010–1160 °C and strain rate range of 0.001–1 s−1. It was found that the nucleation mechanisms of discontinuous DRX and continuous DRX (CDRX) occurred simultaneously during hot deformation, and twinning can play an important role in improving the process of DRX. There are three stages in the process of CDRX, i.e., the accumulation and rearrangement of dislocations, the formation of subgrain boundary, and the conversion to high angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) from subgrain boundary. Moreover, the effect of CDRX grows weaker with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate. Additionally, both the volume fraction of DRX grains and the DRX grain size were closely related to the deformation temperature and strain rate, and a power exponent relationship between the DRX grain size and Z parameter was obtained. Based on the experimental data, the kinetic equations were also developed to evaluate the volume fraction of DRX grains during hot deformation in the alloy.

The flow behavior of forged commercial purity (CP) titanium powder compact was studied by developing a processing map. CP titanium powder was sintered to 94% relative density, then hot compressed in a Gleeble thermal–mechanical simulator at strain rates ranging from 0.001 to 10 s−1 and deformation temperatures ranging from 600 to 800 °C. The hot forging process improved the densification to 98–99.9% and reduced the grain size from 93 to 10 µm by the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization. The fully dynamic recrystallization region is in the range of deformation temperature of 750–800 °C and strain rate of 0.001–0.01 s−1, with a power dissipation efficiency higher than 40%, determined by constructing a processing map and analyzing the volume fraction of dynamic recrystallization. This research provides a guide for powder compact forging of power metallurgy titanium by providing the hot compression parameters, which can lead to an improved microstructure and densification.

Thermally stable nanosized Al2O3 particles and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are comparatively effective in simultaneous improvement of strength and ductility of wrought magnesium alloy AZ31 when incorporated in microstructure. Understanding the comparative effectiveness of these nanosized reinforcements on the high temperature deformation process of wrought AZ31 alloy is important for its potential wider automotive body application. The current study has revealed that both reinforcements are competitively effective in inducing matrix grain and intermetallic particles refinement and strengthening almost to a theoretically predicted value. Although high temperature flow stress of AZ31 was found to closely match due to incorporation of both of the nanosized reinforcements, alumina was more efficient in improving the failure strain of matrix alloy. Addition of remarkably a small amount of nanosized alumina particles or CNTs introduced huge potential in near net shape formability of AZ31 alloy at a temperature much below than the widely used 350 °C. Among the two reinforcements used in this study, alumina was found to be more efficient when compared to the effect of CNTs.