Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232

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Materials Science and Engineering A

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Effect of heat treatment on stability of impact-induced adiabatic shear bands in

4340 steel
Solomon Boakye-Yiadom ∗ , Nabil Bassim
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Adiabatic shear bands (ASBs) have been observed in many engineering applications, including armor
Received 9 February 2012 plates and metal working operations subjected to both high strain rates (>103 S−1 ) and large strains.
Received in revised form 13 March 2012 These bands indicate excessive deformations due to strain localization. Preventing their formation by
Accepted 15 March 2012
proper choice of materials or eliminating them when formed may avert the occurrence of catastrophic
Available online 26 March 2012
failures. In this study, impacted specimens of 4340 steel, where ASBs have been observed, were sub-
jected to post-impact annealing to determine the persistence of ASBs. Microstructural observations were
Keywords:
made using optical and scanning electron microscopy to determine whether the physical appearance of
Adiabatic shear bands
Post-impact annealing
the ASBs changes or not during the post-impact annealing. These observations were followed by X-ray
Steel diffraction analysis on the shear band regions and on the base materials to determine the influence of
the heat treatment on the annealed specimens. It was found that annealing at temperatures higher than
600 ◦ C shows significant reduction in the physical appearance of the ASB and its hardness. After 30 min
annealing at 650 ◦ C, the hardness of the shear bands and their matrixes reduced to approximately the
same level as they were before deformation. The X-ray diffraction analysis also confirmed that recrys-
tallization processes and grain growth cause the high strains of the ASBs to be reduced. Post-impact
annealing at 650 ◦ C revealed that the fine crystals in the shear bands were replaced by larger crystals
compared to the surrounding material due to the early occurrence of recrystallization in the shear band
regions. Post-impact annealing of the steel specimens at 750 ◦ C and 850 ◦ C for 30 min led to a homoge-
nous microstructure with no trace of the shear bands. The pre-impact heat treatment properties were
not affected because there was no excessive grain growth to significantly alter the strength and hardness
of the impacted and annealed specimens as compared to the properties of the undeformed material.
The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the average size of the crystals in the annealed specimens is
smaller when compared to the unimpacted specimen.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
High-speed deformation of metals and materials used in
processes such as impact loading, high-speed forming, rolling,
machining, forging, explosive forming and structural applications
frequently lead to the formation of adiabatic shear bands (ASBs).
Shear bands have also been observed in deformation conditions
such as friction stir welding, impact wear and other contact load-
ing conditions. These adiabatic shear bands are manifestations of
damage and are mostly prevalent in BCC materials such as steels
[1–7,18–20].
There has been a recent effort to prevent or minimize the forma-
tion of adiabatic shear bands in processes involving high strain rates
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 204 890 5440; fax: +1 204 275 3773.
E-mail addresses: cypsela2003@yahoo.com, umboakys@cc.umanitoba.ca
(S. Boakye-Yiadom).
and large strains [1–5]. This can be achieved by proper selection
of materials or by defining an appropriate prior heat treatment so
that ASBs do not form or if formed their damage would be minimal
[1,2]. The stability of adiabatic shear bands is determined by how
persistent or how they are when formed in materials after defor-
mation. A study on the thermal or thermo-mechanical behavior
of ASBs may give a deeper insight into how this damage mecha-
nism evolves during deformation. Moreover, the shear bands may
be eliminated in some materials and processes to prevent failure.
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of heat
treatment on stability of impact-induced adiabatic shear bands
in 4340 steel. This involved generating adiabatic shear bands in
the steel specimens by impact, heat treating the impacted spec-
imens and using standard metallographic techniques and X-ray
diffraction analysis to document the influence of the post-impact
heat treatment on the shear bands and provide an understand-
ing to the mechanism of formation of ASBs and their subsequent
stability.

0921-5093/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2012.03.057
224 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232
Table 1
Chemical composition of AISI 4340 steel.
Chemical composition Minimum (%) Maximum (%)
Carbon 0.37 0.44
Silicon 0.10 0.35
Manganese 0.55 0.90
Nickel 1.55 2.00
Chromium 0.65 0.95
Molybdenum 0.20 0.35
Phosphorus 0 0.04
Sulphur 0 0.04
2. Experimental procedure
Post shear-band heat treatments required producing well-
developed and clearly defined bands. AISI 4340 steel was selected
for this study because it can be heat treated to achieve different
mechanical and microstructural properties. The chemical compo-
sition of AISI 4340 steel is shown on Table 1. Cylindrical specimens
were cut from a rolled AISI 4340 steel bar and machined to a
diameter of 9.5 mm and a height of 10.5 mm. The cylindrical steel
specimens were austenitized at 855 ◦ C for 30 min followed by rapid
quenching in oil to produce a martensitic microstructure. Speci-
mens were then put into three groups and tempered due to the
brittle nature of martensite. The first two groups were tempered at
315 ◦ C, and 425 ◦ C respectively for 1 h followed by air-cooling. Spec-
imens in the last group were tempered at 620 ◦ C for 2 h followed
by air-cooling. The Direct Impact Hopkinson Pressure Bar (DIHPB)
developed at the University of Manitoba was used to impact the
cylindrical steel specimens (diameter 9.5 mm, height 10.5 mm) at
high strain rates and at large strains to generate adiabatic shear
bands. During the impact, an AISI 4340 steel projectile, 38 mm in
diameter and 127 mm long, with a hardness of 47 HRC is fired by
a gas gun, strikes the specimen at a high impact velocity generat-
ing elastic waves through the specimen, and are transmitted into
the transmitter bar. A strain gage is attached to the transmitter bar
and is used in conjunction with a differential amplifier and a digi-
tal oscilloscope to monitor the strain history during the impact test.
The strain wave data is stored in the form of voltage and time by the
oscilloscope, which is converted to impact resistance curves [1,6].
After impact, all the specimens impacted at 44 kg m/s, which devel-
oped clear and distinct transformed shear bands not containing
cracks, were annealed at 350–650 ◦ C for 30 min–2 h. The speci-
mens impacted at 50 kg m/s with distinct and clear transformed
bands were annealed at 350–850 ◦ C for 30 min–4 h. Each annealing
process was followed by microstructural observations and X-ray
diffraction analysis to study the ensuing properties and structure of
the shear bands. Tables 2–4 give the number of specimens, the prior
heat treatment conditions, the impact conditions, annealing condi-
tions and the thickness and hardness of the observed shear bands
compared to regions away from the shear bands (representing the
bulk impacted material without shear bands).
Microstructural investigations were carried out on all impacted
specimens using an inverted reflected light optical microscope
(OM) equipped with a CLEMEX vision image analyzer and a JSM
5900 scanning electron microscope (SEM) with an Oxford EDS sys-
tem. The impacted specimens were cut, grinded, polished, etched
and studied to document the appearance and properties (hardness
and width) of the shear bands. Etching of the polished specimens
was performed with a 2% Nital solution for 60 s by swabbing. Micro-
hardness measurements across the shear bands and surrounding
material were done with a Buehler micro-hardness machine.
X-ray diffraction analyses of selected impacted specimens with
distinct shear bands (as identified by OM) were conducted first
in the shear band regions (inside the shear bands) and second in
regions away from the shear bands (representing the bulk impacted
material without shear bands) separately to determine how the
crystallites in these two different regions were changing after
impact and after each annealing procedure. A Bruker D8 Discover
with GADDS and a super speed HI-STAR detector was used to obtain
the diffraction spectra. The Bruker D8 Discover has a rotating anode,
uses copper radiations and is operated at 50 kV and 60 mA. A 0.5 mm
collimator was used for the current study on all the steel speci-
mens. Each analysis was done by collecting three data frames for
each shear band region and three data frames for regions away
from the shear bands at 2 positions that overlapped to allow data
merging during analysis. The three detector positions for the three
frames were at 2 positions of 49 ± 15◦ , 74 ± 15◦ and 99 ± 15◦ . The
distance from the specimen to the detector was fixed at 15 cm. This
determined the range across the detector.
3. Experimental results
3.1. Microstructural observations
Tables 2–4 give the thickness and hardness of the observed
shear bands both in the shear band regions and in regions away
from the shear bands for all the specimens including their anneal-
ing conditions. Fig. 1(a) shows a backscattered electron image of
the 620 ◦ C–2 h tempered specimen before impact, Fig. 1(b) shows
the same specimen after impact with the observed shear band
and Fig. 1(c) and (d) shows the backscattered electron images of
the observed shear band and its surrounding impacted material
respectively. The narrow shear band shows a highly strained region
resulting in very fine crystals compared to the surrounding mate-
rial due to strain localization as shown in Fig. 1(c). The surrounding
impacted materials also appear to have smaller crystals compared
to the unimpacted specimen as shown by Fig. 1(a) and (d). Thus
the high strain that ensues during impact crushes the crystals into
very fine sizes with the shear band regions developing the highest
strains.
Post-impact annealing at temperatures below 600 ◦ C, regard-
less of impact and annealing conditions did not produce any
noticeable change in the appearance of the shear bands. Fig. 2
shows a backscattered electron image of an impacted specimen
after 4 h post-impact annealing at 350 ◦ C. Comparing Fig. 2 to
Fig. 1, which shows the shear band after impact without annealing
demonstrates that there were no changes to the appearance of the
shear bands during the post-impact annealing at 350 ◦ C. However,
it was observed that annealing at temperatures higher than 600 ◦ C
showed significant reduction in the physical appearance of the ASBs
and its hardness. Post-impact annealing above 600 ◦ C for 30 min
produced significant changes in the appearance of the shear bands
without deteriorating the hardness of the specimens compared to
their initial hardness before impact. The shear bands had decreasing
thickness and hardness in addition to a reduction in the hardness
of the surrounding material regardless of the initial conditions of
the specimens before impact, the amount of deformation, and the
conditions of the post-impact annealing, as seen on Figs. 3 and 4.
Fig. 3(a) and (b) shows optical micrographs of a shear band formed
in a specimen after impact and after 2 h post-impact annealing at
650 ◦ C respectively. Fig. 3(c) shows a backscattered electron image
of the shear band region and Fig. 3(d) shows the region away from
the shear band, all after 2 h post-impact annealing at 650 ◦ C for the
same specimen.
From Fig. 3, it is seen that the shear band regions have developed
larger grain sizes compared to the surrounding impacted mate-
rial with several spheroidal carbides precipitating out of the ferrite
matrix because of the annealing process. The development of the
larger grain sizes is attributed to recrystallization and grain growth
resulting in the shear band regions having larger crystallite sizes
 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232 225

Table 2
Variations in thickness and hardness of shear bands for specimens tempered at 315 ◦ C for 1 h and impacted at 44 kg m/s.

Specimens Thickness of transformed Hardness of transformed Hardness of region away

shear bands (␮m) shear bands (HV) from shear band (HV)
“A” after impact 36 621 543
“A” after 2 h annealing at 350 ◦ C 28 642 559

“B” after impact 31 628 575

“B” after 2 h annealing at 450 ◦ C 15 599 520

“C” after impact 39 681 533

“C” after 30 min annealing at 650 ◦ C 31 368 359
“C” after 2 h annealing at 650 ◦ C 31 310 317

Table 3
Variations in thickness and hardness of shear bands for specimens tempered at 425 ◦ C for 1 h and impacted at 44 kg m/s.

Specimens Thickness of transformed Hardness of transformed Hardness of region away

shear bands (␮m) shear bands (HV) from shear band (HV)
“A” after impact 28 575 457
“A” after 2 h annealing at 350 ◦ C 25 609 530

“B” after impact 289 667 470

“B” after 2 h annealing at 450 ◦ C 25 579 507

“C” after impact 130 759 457

“C” after 30 min annealing at 650 ◦ C 85 344 347
“C” after 2 h annealing at 650 ◦ C 55 307 307

compared to the regions away from shear band. Due to strain local-
ization which results in high strains in the shear bands, the amount
of strain energy stored in the shear band regions after impact is
comparatively higher than regions away from the shear bands.
Under the same conditions, the high strain energy stored in the
shear bands would trigger early recrystallization (static) inside the
bands as compared to the surrounding regions during the annealing
process. This is because static recrystallization is a function of the
amount of deformation (stored elastic strain energy) and temper-
ature, and because temperature is constant during the annealing,
the time for recrystallization becomes dependent on the amount
of stored strain energy [8,23]. This result in early recrystalliza-
tion processes inside the shear bands, which lead to grain growth
after the recrystallization is complete resulting in larger crystallite
sizes in the shear bands. EDX analysis on the spheroidal carbides
observed in Fig. 3(c) and (d) showed that they were very rich in
chromium but deficient in iron. The precipitated chromium rich
carbide was observed in the steel specimens even before defor-
mation, which was as a result of tempering before impact. From
Fig. 4, it can be seen that 30 min post-impact annealing at 650 ◦ C
results in a significant reduction in the average hardness of the
shear bands and surrounding impacted material and a physical
change in the appearance of the shear bands. In addition, the
hardness after 30 min annealing correspond to the initial hard-
ness of the steel specimens before impact. Thus, this temperature
and time of post-impact annealing is very significant in eliminat-
ing adiabatic shear bands in typical heat treatable steels without
impairing the initial hardness (strength) of the specimens before
impact.
Post-impact annealing of the steel specimens at 750 ◦ C and
850 ◦ C for 30 min erased the shear bands completely without
destroying the initial hardness (strength) before impact as shown
by Figs. 5 and 6. Fig. 5(a) shows an optical micrograph while Fig. 5(b)
shows the backscattered electron image of an impacted specimen
with a shear band annealed at 850 ◦ C for 30 min. The backscattered
electron image shows a homogenous microstructure after the post
impact annealing with no trace of the shear bands. Despite the
high post-impact annealing temperatures, the average hardness

Table 4
Variations in thickness and hardness of shear bands for specimens tempered at 620 ◦ C for 2 h and impacted at 50 kg m/s.

Specimens Thickness of transformed Hardness of transformed Hardness of region away

shear bands (␮m) shear bands (HV) from shear band (HV)
“A” after impact 70 366 316
“A” after 2 h annealing at 350 ◦ C 28 499 403
“A” after 4 h annealing at 350 ◦ C 29 539 416

“B” after impact 66 411 314

“B” after 2 h annealing at 450 ◦ C 48 478 374
“B” after 4 h annealing at 450 ◦ C 43 466 388

“C” after impact 73 452 308

“C” after 2 h annealing at 550 ◦ C n/a 409 361
“C” after 4 h annealing at 550 ◦ C 67 387 370

“D” after impact 69 433 329

“D” after 30 min annealing at 650 ◦ C 70 288 320
“D” after 2 h annealing at 650 ◦ C 69 244 295

“E” after impact 75 524 298

“E” after 30 min annealing at 750 ◦ C 48 305 373
“E” after 1.5 h annealing at 750 ◦ C n/a 387 450

“F” after impact 105 477 298

“F” after 30 min annealing at 850 ◦ C n/a 313 313
226 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232

Fig. 1. (a) Backscattered electron image of the 620 ◦ C–2 h tempered specimen before impact. (b) Optical micrograph of the same specimen after impact at 50 kg m/s showing
shear band. Backscattered electron image of the same specimen showing (c) shear band region and (d) region away from shear band.

(strength) of the specimens did not deteriorate compared to their Fig. 6. The specimen shown on Figs. 5 and 6 had an average hardness
initial hardness before impact. Thus, there was no impairment of of 288HV after heat treatment at 620 ◦ C for 2 h before impact. After
the initial heat treatment which was done on the steel specimens impact at 50 kg m/s, the average hardness of the shear band was
aimed at providing elevated strengths (hardness) as shown on 477HV while the regions away from the shear band had a hardness

Fig. 2. Backscattered electron image of a specimen tempered at 620 ◦ C for 2 h, impacted at 50 kg m/s and annealed at 350 ◦ C for 4 h after impact showing regions (c) around
shear band (d) away from shear band.
 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232 227

Fig. 3. Optical micrograph of a 620 ◦ C–2 h tempered specimen (a) after impact at 50 kg m/s (b) after 2 h post-impact annealing at 650 ◦ C. Backscattered electron image of the
same specimen after 2 h post-impact annealing at 650 ◦ C showing regions (c) around shear band and (d) away from shear band.

Fig. 4. Decreasing hardness during post-impact annealing at 650 ◦ C.

228 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232

Fig. 5. A 620 ◦ C–2 h tempered specimen, impacted at 50 kg m/s, and annealed at 850 ◦ C for 30 min after impact (a) optical micrograph (b) scanning electron micrograph
(backscattered electron image). The shear band was completely erased.

of 298. After 30 min post-impact annealing at 850 ◦ C, its hardness
reduced to 313HV without any trace of the shear band, thus the
shear band was completely erased. The microstructure became
homogenous with uniform properties without deteriorating the
initial hardness (strength) of the specimens. This demonstrates
that the strength of the heavily deformed AISI 4340 steel speci-
mens, under the given heat treatment and impact conditions, can
be restored back to their initial properties (strength and hardness)
by annealing heat treatments, which concurrently eliminates the
visible traces of the shear bands and decrease their possibility of
resulting in failure during subsequent loading.
3.2. X-ray diffraction analysis
X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out on the steel specimens
to confirm the mechanisms that occur during the annealing pro-
cess which results in the changes in the physical appearance of
the shear bands and reduction in hardness without significantly
altering the hardness (strength) of the steel specimens after post-
impact annealing. From the Hall–Petch equation, there is a relation
between grain size and strength of a material as shown in Eq. (1)
below [8,9,21]:
 = 0 + kd−1/2 (1)
where  0 is the intrinsic strength of the metal, k is a coefficient
and d is a grain diameter or the size of the grain. The Hall–Petch
equation shows that increasing the grain size leads to a decrease
in the stress concentration at the grain boundaries that result in
reduced strengthening compared with fine-grained materials [8,9].
Moreover, from the Scherrer equation (Eq. (2)), the peak width, ˇ
in radians, measured as full width half-maximum (FWHM) of an
X-ray diffraction spectra is inversely proportional to the crystallite
size Lhkl perpendicular to the h k l plane [17,21]:

Lhkl = (2)
(ˇcos)
Thus, the X-ray diffraction spectra was used to determine the
average size of the crystals in the shear band regions and regions
away from the shear band after each post-impact annealing process
to determine the changes in the crystallite sizes and the influence
of the annealing on the impacted specimens.

Fig. 6. Decreasing hardness during post-impact annealing at 850 ◦ C. Hardness of the 620 ◦ C–2 h tempered specimen before impact was 288HV.
 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232 229

Fig. 7. X-ray diffraction spectra at the various reflecting planes of the steel specimen tempered at 620 ◦ C for 2 h and impacted at 50 kg m/s compared to the unimpacted
specimen tempered at 620 ◦ C for 2 h.

X-ray diffraction analysis was carried on the steel specimens Table 5

Peak heights and peak widths (FWHM) of the X-ray diffraction spectra at different
before impact, after impact and after each annealing process.
reflecting planes of the specimen impacted at 50 kg m/s (No post-impact annealing).
Diffraction analysis on the specimens after impact demonstrated
that there was no phase change in the transformed shear bands as Specimens (h k l) Peak height Peak FWHM
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (1 1 0) 8769 0.383
has been reported by some investigators [22]. Fig. 7 shows a com-
Away from shear band (1 1 0) 927 0.436
parison of the X-ray spectra of the steel specimen before and after Inside shear band (1 1 0) 817 0.438
impact at the various reflecting planes of (1 1 0), (2 0 0) and (2 1 1).
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (2 0 0) 1327 0.562
Fig. 7 and Table 5 show a continuous decrease in average crystallite
Away from shear band (2 0 0) 527 0.657
sizes with increasing amounts of defects and dislocations from the Inside shear band (2 0 0) 464 0.690
unimpacted specimen, to the regions away from the shear bands, to
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (2 1 1) 2743 0.568
the shear band regions as measured using the increasing peak width Away from shear band (2 1 1) 691 0.658
at FWHM and the decreasing peak heights. The average crystallite Inside shear band (2 1 1) 514 0.666
sizes in the shear band regions are smaller than regions away from
230 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232

Table 6 occurrence of early recrystallization during the post-impact

Peak heights and peak widths at FWHM of the X-ray diffraction patterns at different
annealing which later leads to grain growth when the recrystal-
reflecting planes of the specimen impacted at 50 kg m/s and annealed at 350 ◦ C for
4 h after impact. lization is complete.
Fig. 9 shows the X-ray diffraction spectra of a specimen,
Specimens (h k l) Peak height Peak FWHM
impacted at 50 kg m/s and annealed at 850 ◦ C for 30 min com-
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (1 1 0) 10,558 0.352
Away from shear band (1 1 0) 2820 0.426
pared to the unimpacted specimen. It is shown that the peak width
Inside shear band (1 1 0) 4536 0.393 at FWHM for the impacted and annealed specimen is compara-
tively larger than the unimpacted specimen. This, according to the
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (2 0 0) 1399 0.517
Away from shear band (2 0 0) 1474 0.508 Scherrer equation, demonstrates that the average crystallite size
Inside shear band (2 0 0) 1412 0.558 in the impacted and annealed specimen is still smaller than the
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (2 1 1) 2551 0.628
unimpacted specimen despite the high temperature used for the
Away from shear band (2 1 1) 2534 0.620 annealing. Also, according to the Hall–Petch equation, the impacted
Inside shear band (2 1 1) 2463 0.648 and annealed specimen with smaller average crystallite sizes have
higher strength (hardness) than the unimpacted specimen which
was confirmed by the hardness of the specimen after the anneal-
the shear band based on their peak widths which is consistent with ing as shown by Fig. 6. Thus, the high temperature post-impact
the microstructure observed in the backscattered electron images annealing reduces the high strains in the shear band regions and
shown in Fig. 1. Increase in peak width or line broadening in X-ray its impacted specimen resulting in a homogenous microstructure
diffraction spectra is mostly due to small crystals but other crystal but does not result in grain growth that might be due to the com-
defects can cause increase in peak width [17,21]. Peak broadening paratively smaller time for the annealing. This demonstrates why
also occurs as a result of variations in d-spacing caused by micro- the initial hardness of the specimen before impact (288HV) was
strain with broader peaks indicating high strains and micro-strains not impaired despite the high temperature for the post-impact
[17,21]. The increasing peak width and decreasing peak height, annealing because there might not have been enough time for grain
which was very typical of all the shear bands when compared growth to occur, resulting in the average crystallite sizes remaining
to the surrounding impacted material and the unimpacted spec- appreciably smaller to retain strength (hardness) and a homoge-
imens, is attributed to fine average crystal sizes and high strains nous microstructure, which eliminates the adiabatic shear bands
and micro-strains due to strain localization which occurs during completely. Moreover, in the XRD results, it appears that a defor-
the deformation. mation texture may have arisen due to the changing peak heights
From Table 6, it is shown that the shear band regions still have compared to the unimpacted specimen demonstrating that even
fine average crystal sizes compared to the regions away from the though adiabatic shear bands can be annealed out it may leave
shear bands and the unimpacted specimens after annealing at textured regions as shown on Fig. 9.
350 ◦ C for 4 h. This was typical of all the specimens annealed at tem-
peratures below 600 ◦ C, which confirms why there were no changes
in the physical appearance of the shear bands and its hardness as 4. Discussion
indicated on the micrograph in Fig. 2. The average crystallite sizes
in shear bands before post-impact annealing were always smaller The microstructural observations made in the current study
compared to regions away from it and the unimpacted specimen gave a visual identification of the presence or disappearance of
as shown on Figs. 1 and 7 and Table 5. However, after post-impact adiabatic shear bands during post-impact annealing. The results
annealing at temperatures above 600 ◦ C, the average crystallite demonstrate that shear bands can be eliminated even at high tem-
sizes inside the shear bands became comparable to the surrounding peratures without worsening the strength of the steel specimens.
impacted material and the unimpacted specimens demonstrating This gives an insight into how high strains stored in shear bands can
the occurrence of recrystallization and grain growth in the shear be reduced or eliminated. It appears annealing has to be carried out
bands based on the measured peak width at FWHM. From Fig. 8 above 600 ◦ C as evidenced by the decreasing hardness of the shear
and Table 7, after post-impact annealing at 650 ◦ C for 2 h, the mea- band regions and the disappearance of the shear bands, resulting
sured peak widths from the shear band regions were smaller than in homogenous microstructures with lower strains and comparable
the regions away from the shear bands and the unimpacted spec- strengths (hardness) between the shear bands and their surround-
imens. This indicates larger average crystallite sizes in the shear ing materials. The process of elimination of the shear bands may
bands compared to regions away from the shear bands in accor- be initiated at lower annealing temperatures but it becomes more
dance with the Scherrer equation. Moreover, this is consistent with evident at higher temperatures.
the observed microstructure shown in Fig. 3 and indicates that The reduction in hardness that occurs during post-impact
the high strains inside the shear bands after impact result in the annealing at temperatures above 600 ◦ C is attributed to the
occurrence of recovery, static recrystallization and grain growth
processes [10–16]. The larger average crystallite sizes observed in
Table 7
Peak heights and peak widths at FWHM of the X-ray diffraction spectra at different the shear bands after the annealing as shown by the X-ray analy-
reflecting planes of the specimen impacted at 50 kg m/s and annealed at 650 ◦ C for sis and microstructural observations is attributed to grain growth
2 h after impact. after static recrystallization is complete. During impact, there is
Specimens (h k l) Peak height Peak FWHM significant increase in dislocations resulting in higher stored strain
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (1 1 0) 10,357 0.334 energy in the deformed specimens [3,8,9]. When strain localiza-
Away from shear band (1 1 0) 751 0.395 tion occurs in the narrow regions of the shear bands during the
Inside shear band (1 1 0) 2553 0.321 deformation, the amount of strain energy stored in the narrow
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (2 0 0) 1397 0.510 regions would be higher than in regions away from the shear bands
Away from shear band (2 0 0) 1022 0.439 [9,18–20]. Studies by Burke and Turnbull on recrystallization and
Inside shear band (2 0 0) 754 0.384
grain growth showed that the final grain size after annealing is
Unimpacted 620 ◦ C–2 h (2 1 1) 2672 0.486 dependent on the amount of deformation or cold work than on the
Away from shear band (2 1 1) 1191 0.427 temperature or time of annealing [23]. The strain localization in the
Inside shear band (2 1 1) 1837 0.395
shear band regions shows higher amounts of deformation in these
 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232 231

Fig. 8. X-ray diffraction spectra at the various reflecting planes of the 620 ◦ C–2 h tempered specimen, impacted at 50 kg m/s and annealed at 650 ◦ C for 2 h after impact
compared to the unimpacted specimen tempered at 620 ◦ C for 2 h.

regions resulting in larger crystallite sizes after annealing because
under the same deformation conditions, annealing temperature
and time, this high amount of strain energy stored in the shear
band regions would trigger early recrystallization processes inside
the shear bands compared to the surrounding regions and will later
lead to grain growth after recrystallization is complete. Janošec
et al. [14] concluded that annealing at high temperatures after cold
rolling results in decrease in strength of steel wires due to recrys-
tallization processes and coarsening of precipitates. Odeshi et al.
[4] and Al-Ameeri [5] attributed the significant hardness reduction
of shear bands and surrounding impacted materials to nucleation
and growth of spheroidal cementite due to recrystallization mech-
anisms and growth of strain free and coarse carbide grains. It is
suggested that the reduction in hardness of both the adiabatic shear
bands and the surrounding impacted material is due to recovery
and recrystallization mechanisms [15,16].
Impact crushes the grains of the steel specimens to very fine
crystals due to strain localization resulting in very high increase
in hardness as evident by the microstructural observations and X-
ray analysis. Post impact annealing above 600 ◦ C results in static
recrystallization mechanisms, which reduces the high strains in
the shear bands. However, the retained strength (hardness) after
the post impact annealing is attributed to the retained average
smaller crystallite sizes when compared to the unimpacted speci-
men. Fig. 9 shows that, even after post-impact annealing at 850 ◦ C
for 30 min, the average crystallite size of the resulting homogenous
232 S. Boakye-Yiadom, N. Bassim / Materials Science and Engineering A 546 (2012) 223–232
Fig. 9. X-ray diffraction spectra of the 620 ◦ C–2 h tempered specimen impacted at 50 kg m/s and annealed at 850 ◦ C for 30 min after impact compared to the unimpacted
specimen tempered at 620 ◦ C for 2 h.
microstructure is still smaller than the unimpacted specimen. This
was typical of all the specimens annealed above 600 ◦ C for 30 min.
Thus, the 30 min post impact annealing above 600 ◦ C is enough
to ensure reduction in the high strains and hardness of the shear
band regions and their surrounding materials but is not enough to
result in large amounts of grain growth, which would have deteri-
orated the initial strength (hardness) of the steel specimens after
annealing.
5. Conclusions
The current results indicate that it is possible to eliminate adia-
batic shear bands from impacted heat treatable AISI 4340 steels by
the current heat treatment discussed earlier and the impact condi-
tions. Microstructural observations and X-ray diffraction analysis
were used to show that the average crystallite sizes and amount
of strain in shear bands which occurs as a result of strain local-
ization during impact play very important roles in the formation
and elimination of the shear bands. A careful selection of anneal-
ing conditions is required in order to eliminate the shear bands and
retain the initial strength (hardness) of the steel specimens after the
annealing process. Post impact annealing of the steel specimens is
most effective above 600 ◦ C for 30 min because the fine crystals in
the shear bands are replaced by a larger crystals while maintaining
their initial properties (strength and hardness) after the annealing.
Acknowledgment
The authors thank the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for the funds they provided
for this investigation.
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