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In this study, the work-hardening behavior of Ag microwires with different grain sizes has been investigated, and the results show that the work-hardening rate of Ag microwires does not decrease with the increase of grain size, suggesting that the work-hardening capacity of Ag microwires is insensitive to grain size. Moreover, the microstructure evolution of the samples before and after tensile tests has been characterized using scanning electron microscope-backscattered electron (SEM-BSE), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). As a typical low stacking faults energy (SFE) material, stacking faults and twins are particularly easy to form in Ag microwires. Abundant stacking faults and twins, as well as minor lattice orientation adjustment in Ag microwires were observed and confirmed to play key roles on their grain-size insensitive work-hardening capacity. The current study provides insights for manufacturing Ag microwires for bonding process and other microelectronics applications.

Three kinds of Fe–22Mn–0.6C–(x)Al (wt%) Twinning-Induced Plasticity (TWIP) steels were designed by changing the Al content. Uniaxial, unloading-reloading and stress-relaxation tensile tests were carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties. Meanwhile, electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray tomography (XRT) techniques were used to investigate the microstructure evolutions. Firstly, it was found that the Al addition reduced the back stress level, suppressed twinning capability, and increased the stacking fault energy (SFE), leading to concession of work-hardening rates. Secondary, the Al addition improved the friction stress level and promoted the short-rang order (SRO) effect, which brought the transformation of dislocation slip from wavy to planar mode. Last but not least, the dynamic strain aging (DSA) effect brought the pinning of dislocations, forming high dislocation activation volume (> 100 b3). With increasing plastic strain, the deformation twins and SRO effect restricted dislocations gliding, resulting in low dislocation activation volume (

The effect of nitrogen addition on the mechanical properties of Fe–22Mn–0.6C (wt%) twinning-induced plasticity steel was studied. It was found that the stacking fault energies of the two steels were comparable, and the twinned grain fractions of FeMnC and FeMnC-N steels were similar before the true strain of 0.5. With increasing the strain to 0.7, the fraction of secondary twinned grain rose to support the further strong work-hardening rate of FeMnC-N steel. Moreover, the nitrogen addition suppressed the dynamic strain aging, which can trigger early shear fracture in FeMnC steel. Therefore, the work-hardening rate was kept increasing and the frequency of plastic instability was suppressed by nitrogen addition. As a result, the ultimate tensile strength and uniform elongation simultaneously increased in FeMnC-N steel.

In this study, it is found that the high-manganese austenitic FeMnC twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel exhibits negative strain rate sensitivity (SRS), which is contrary to other face-centered cubic (fcc) metals or alloys. The negative SRS phenomenon of Fe-22Mn-0.6C (wt%) TWIP steel is considered to be suppressed or even convert to be positive through adding Al element. Meanwhile, the relation between tensile strength and uniform elongation of the FeMnC(Al) TWIP steels displays a transition from trade-off to synchronously improvement with decreasing the strain rate and Al content. It is suggested that the negative SRS phenomenon of FeMnC TWIP steel can be mainly attributed to the twinning mechanism assisted by dynamic strain aging (DSA). This mechanism can also explain well the negative to positive transition of SRS in FeMnC(Al) TWIP steel with the addition of Al element.

The strain rate sensitivity (SRS) of Fe–22Mn–0.6C and Fe–30Mn–3Si–3Al twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel was studied in the strain rate range from 10 −4 to 10 °s −1 . The Fe–22Mn–0.6C steel exhibited negative SRS, while the Fe–30Mn–3Si–3Al steel showed positive SRS. Dynamic strain aging (DSA) was detected in Fe–22Mn–0.6C steel but not in Fe–30Mn–3Si–3Al steel. Accordingly, the two typical TWIP steels can be classified as DSA-facilitated and DSA-free TWIP steels. Meanwhile, the density of twin boundary obviously decreased in Fe–22Mn–0.6C steel but had little change in Fe–30Mn–3Si–3Al steel with increasing the strain rate. The different SRS phenomena were discussed based on the twinning mechanism and DSA effect.

For Fe–22Mn–0.6C (wt%) twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel with grain sizes of 35 and 170 μm, both the ultimate tensile strength and uniform elongation decrease with increasing the tensile strain rates (from 10 −4 to 10 0 s −1 ). The density of twin boundary (DTB) is presumed to be the major factor influencing mechanical properties. Accordingly, a parameter 2/( t + s ) ( t and s represent the thickness and spacing of deformation twins), also the inverse of the mean free path for dislocation slip, is proposed to characterize the planar-oriented twinned structure in infinite grain size ( D » t ≈ s ). It also evaluates the effect of DTB on the work hardening ability and ductility of the TWIP steel.

In this study, the effect of strain rate on the tensile deformation behavior of Fe–22Mn–0.6C–(1.5Al) (wt%) twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel was investigated. The experimental results indicated that the work hardening exponent (n), ultimate tensile strength (σu) and the uniform elongation (δu) decreased with increasing strain rates (from 10−4 to 100 s−1). This phenomenon exhibited negative strain rate sensitivity (NSRS), and the strain rate sensitivity value (m) was observed to be higher in the aluminum added FeMnC TWIP steel. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of this sensitivity and the subsequent effect of aluminum, the present research focused on the deformation twins and conducted comparative studies on their influence in terms of fractions (F), thickness (t) and spacing (s). Additionally, a twin boundary affected zone (TBAZ) model was proposed, where the relation between higher strain rates were directly applicable to the reduction of interfaces between the matrix and deformation twins. These result indicated that fewer sessile dislocations could be accommodated at high strain rates, thus weakening the work hardening ability. Finally, model calculations were performed to validate the findings, where TBAZ region fractions in FeMnC–Al were observed to be higher than that in FeMnC, corresponding to the increased strain rate sensitivity.