Deformation and strain hardening of different steels in impact dominated systems

Strain hardening is a common technique to exploit the full potential of materials in diverse applications. Single impact studies were performed to evaluate work hardening effects of different steels, correlated to their deformation at different energy and momentum levels. Three different steels were examined regarding their forming behavior and their tendency to strain harden in impact loading conditions, revealing different intensities of hardness increase, deformation and coinciding microstructural changes. Detailed studies in the deformed zone such as micro hardness mappings were performed to reveal the materials hardness increase in the deformed zones. Additionally high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) supported by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was used to determine microstructural changes. Results indicate, that the influence of different velocities/strain rates at constant energy levels cannot be neglected for the strain hardening behavior of steels and provide data for a better control of the hardness increase in impact dominated materials fabrication operations.