Lesson 7

Strain Hardening and Annealing

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 Learning Objectives
 Quantify strain hardening of a metal; explain why
strain hardening may significantly increase the
force required to deform a metal.
 Quantify strain rate sensitivity of a metal; explain
why it may influence the force required to deform
a metal.
 Predict how properties of a cold-worked poly-
crystalline material change due to annealing &
deformation, & effects on mechanical behavior.
 Design processes to produce metal sheets with
desired dimensions & properties using
combinations of working & annealing treatments.
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 Outline
Sections
 Relationship of Cold Working to Stress Strain
Curve
 Strain-Hardening Mechanisms
 Properties versus Percent Cold Work
 Microstructure, Texture Strengthening &
Residual Stresses
 Characteristics of Cold Working
 The 3 Stages of Annealing
 Control of Annealing

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 Outline
Sections
 Annealing and Materials Processing
 Hot Working

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Relationship of Cold Working to Stress-Strain
Curve
 Cold working/strain hardening is the
application of a stress higher than yield strength
to a metal, deforming it and increasing strength
by leaving a residual strain.

 Cold working is effective in simultaneously

shaping & strengthening metals at the expense
of reducing ductility.

 Flow stress is the stress needed to initiate

plastic flow in a previously deformed material.

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Relationship of Cold Working to Stress-Strain
Curve
 Springback is the elastic strain that is recovered
after a material has been plastically deformed.
 It is important in the processing of polymers by
extrusion & shaping automotive body panels from
sheet steel.

 Bauschinger Effect is the effect in which a

material which has been plastically deformed
under a tensile stress shows a reduction in
compressive strength, and vice versa.

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Relationship of Cold Working to Stress-Strain
Curve

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Relationship of Cold Working to Stress-Strain Curve

 The response of a metal to cold working can be quantified

by the strain hardening exponent n. Metals with high n
are strengthened more.

 = K n
 The strain-rate sensitivity m describes how the flow stress
changes with strain rate.

  ( ln  ) 
m= 
  ( ln  ) 
 It is useful for predicting high-impact behavior of a material.
 A positive value of m implies the material will resist necking.

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 Strain Hardening Mechanisms
 Deformation strengthens materials by increasing the
number of dislocations. One mechanism is the Frank-
Read source.

Dislocations are line imperfections in an otherwise perfect crystal. They typically are introduced into a crystal during
solidification of the material or when the material is deformed permanently. Although dislocations are present in all
materials, including ceramics and polymers, they are particularly useful in explaining deformation and strengthening
in metallic materials. We can identify three types of dislocations: the screw dislocation, the edge dislocation, and the
mixed dislocation.
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Strain Hardening Mechanisms
 Ceramics, covalently bonded materials, and
glasses generally cannot be strain hardened due
to low ductility or lack of dislocations.

 Thermoplastic polymers can be strengthened by

deformation, but this involves alignment of
polymer chains, not strain hardening.

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Strain Hardening Mechanisms

The strength of a material is the ability

of that material to resist the externally
applied force without breaking or
yielding (or plastic deformation).

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 Properties vs. Percent Cold Work
 Strain hardening is controlled by the amount of plastic
deformation. Plastic deformation is quantified by
defining percent cold work
 A0 − A f 
Percent cold work =    100
 A0 
 As % cold work increases, the metal’s yield & tensile
strengths increases, while ductility goes to zero.

Recall that:
Yield strength is the stress point at which a material
becomes permanently deformed, providing a useful
approximation of that material's elastic limit.
Tensile strength refers to the amount of load or stress
that a material can handle until it stretches and breaks.
Ductility is the ability of a material enabling it to be
drawn into wire with the application of a tensile force.
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Microstructure, Texture Strengthening &
Residual Stresses

 Strain hardening causes grains to become

elongated in the direction of applied stress

 From left to right, the above are grain structures

of a low-carbon steel at 10%, 30%, and 90%
cold work.
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Microstructure, Texture Strengthening &
Residual Stresses

 During deformation, elongated grains (“fibers”)

rotate and align along certain crystallographic
planes and directions called sheet/rolling
textures.

 This results in anisotropic mechanical properties,

i.e. the material properties vary depending on the
direction of measurement. Some examples of
anisotropic properties are:
 Young’s Modulus, Yield Strength
 Magnetic & Electrical properties

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Microstructure, Texture Strengthening &
Residual Stresses

 Orientation or crystallographic textures can also

develop in thin films, affecting properties.
 In thin films, these textures normally develop due
to mechanisms of growth processes, not applied
stress.

 Residual stresses are a small portion of the

applied stress that remains within a structure
after cold working.
 These may be undesirable and can be removed by
a heat treatment called stress-relief anneal.

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Microstructure, Texture Strengthening &
Residual Stresses

 Annealed glass is glass that has been heated to

remove any residual stresses.
 Tempered glass is a strong, safe form of glass used in
everyday applications. It has a residual compressive stress
on the surface, developed by annealing, then rapidly
cooling the glass.
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Characteristics of Cold Working

 There are a number of advantages and limitations to

strengthening metallic materials by cold
working/strain hardening:
 We can shape & strengthen the metal at the same time
 We obtain excellent surface finishes & dimensional tolerances
 Cold working is inexpensive for producing large numbers of
small parts
 Little cold work can be done on brittle metals
 Ductility, electrical conductivity, and corrosion resistance are
reduced by cold working
 Cold worked components can’t be used at high temperatures
 Some deformation techniques (e.g wire drawing) can only be
accomplished via cold working

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 Annealing

 Annealing is a heat treatment used to remove

some or all of the effects of cold working.
 Low temperature annealing can eliminate residual
stresses without affecting properties
 High temperature annealing can reverse cold work
 The 3 annealing stages are recovery,
recrystallization, and grain growth

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The 3 Stages of Annealing

 In recovery, heating causes the dislocations to move and

form a polygonised subgrain structure. The dislocation
density and properties are unchanged, but residual stresses
are removed.

 In recrystallization, heating at higher temperatures forms

new grains at the boundaries of the polygonised dislocation
structure.
 This reduces the number of dislocations, reducing strength
and increasing ductility.
 The recrystallization temperature is not fixed and
depends on many variables.

 Grain growth occurs at still higher temperatures, and

causes smaller grains to merge into larger grains.
 Grain growth occurs in most materials at high enough
temperatures, even without previous recovery and
recrystallization.
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The 3 Stages of Annealing

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Control of Annealing

 Many metallic applications require both strength

& ductility.
 Therefore, we need to first cold work the metal,
then design an annealing heat treatment to
restore desired levels of ductility.

 Designing an appropriate annealing treatment

requires knowledge of
 Recrystallization temperature
 Size of recrystallized grains

The recrystallization temperature is that temperature at which the crystal lattice

structure of the metal becomes reoriented. Consequently, the metal becomes more
workable and ductile.
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Control of Annealing

 The recrystallization temperature is not fixed,

and is influenced by many variables:
 Recrystallization temperature decreases as % cold
work increases
 Recrystallization temperature decreases if initial cold
worked grain size is smaller
 Pure metals recrystallize at lower temperatures than
alloys
 Increasing annealing time decreases recrystallization
temperature
 Higher melting point alloys have higher
recrystallization temperatures

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Control of Annealing

 The recrystallization temperature is also a

boundary between cold and hot working
temperatures.
 Various factors influence the size of recrystallized
grains, such as:
 Reducing the annealing temperature, annealing
time, or the time required to reach annealing
temperature reduces recrystallized grain size
 Increasing initial cold work also reduces final grain
size
 The presence of a second phase may foster or
inhibit grain growth

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Annealing & Materials Processing

 Deformation processing
 We can increase the maximum deformation of a
material by doing cycling between cold working
and annealing until the desired dimensions are
reached.

 High Temperature Service

 A cold worked material is not suitable for high
temperature service. Recrystallization immediately
causes catastrophic decrease in strength, which
may continue to decrease as grains growth
continues.

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Annealing & Materials Processing

 Joining Processes:
 When a cold-worked metal is joined via welding,
the heat affected zone (HAZ) can have
significantly diminished mechanical properties
 Welding processes are therefore designed to
provide rapid heating and cooling to minimize
recrystallization and grain growth.

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Hot Working

 We can also deform a metal into a desired shape by

hot working, i.e. plastically deforming above the
recrystallization temperature.
 Lack of Strengthening:
 No strengthening occurs during deformation in hot
working; this allows almost unlimited plastic
deformation.
 Hot working is suitable for forming large parts,
and for deforming HCP metals which are less
brittle at elevated temperatures.

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Hot Working

 Elimination of Imperfections:
 Some imperfections in the original metal may be
eliminated, or their effects reduced, e.g gas pores,
composition differences, etc.

 Anisotropic Behavior:
 The final properties of hot-worked materials are
not isotropic. The shaping/forming rolls are cooler
than the metal, causing the metal surface to cool
faster and have a smaller grain size than the
metal’s center.

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Hot Working

 Surface Finish & Dimensional Accuracy:

 Surface finish is generally poorer in hot working because
oxides form at the surface due to high temperatures.
Often a “pickling” step is required, in which acid dissolves
the oxide.
 Dimensional accuracy is also poorer. A combination of
elastic strain and thermal contraction requires parts to be
made oversized during deformation.
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Summary

 Metallic materials’ properties can be controlled by

combining plastic deformation & heat treatments.

 When a metallic material is deformed via cold

working, more dislocations are introduced.

 Very large strength increases may be obtained this

way. Strain hardening also reduces ductility,
electrical conductivity & corrosion resistance

 Strain hardening also increases residual stresses

and produces anisotropic behavior.

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Summary

 The amount of strain hardening is limited by

simultaneous ductility decreases; FCC metals
respond the best to strengthening by cold working.

 Wire drawing, stamping, rolling & extrusion are

manufacturing methods for shaping metallic
materials. Some underlying principles of these
methods are also used in polymer manufacturing.

 Strain hardening is not effective at high

temperatures because the effects of cold work are
eliminated by recrystallization.

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Summary

 Annealing of metallic materials is a heat treatment

intended to eliminate all, or some, effects of strain
hardening. This process may involve up to 3 steps.

 Recovery (“stress relief anneal”) occurs at low

temperatures, eliminating residual stresses &
restoring electrical conductivity without strength
reduction.

 Recrystallization occurs at higher temperatures &

eliminates almost all effects of strain hardening.
The dislocation density decreases as new grains
nucleate and grow.
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Summary

 Grain growth (typically avoided) occurs at even

higher temperatures.
 In cold worked metallic materials, grain growth
follows recovery and recrystallization.
 In ceramic materials, grain growth occurs due to
high temperatures or the presence of a liquid phase
during sintering.

 Hot working combines plastic deformation and

annealing in a single step, permitting large
amounts of plastic deformation without embrittling
the material.

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Summary

 Annealing of glasses removes stresses developed

during cooling.

 Thermal tempering of glasses is a heat treatment

where rapid cooling leads to a compressive stress
on the surface. Tempered/laminated glass is used
in applications where safety is important.

 In metallic materials, compressive residual

stresses are introduced by shot peening. This
treatment increases the fatigue life.

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