Investigating formability of future steel grades using rapid alloy prototyping

先进高强度钢(AHSS)广泛应用于汽车工业，具有高强度和轻量化的特点。这些钢材在减少汽车尾气排放和增加电动汽车续航里程方面发挥了关键作用，随着我们迈向2040年和禁止传统汽油/柴油汽车，电动汽车在道路上将变得更加突出。该项目渴望增加AHSS的成形性，以利于设计和制造过程，并最终增加可以生产的产品范围。该项目的目的是研究使用快速合金成型技术的钢的可制造性，以生产少量的新成分。小样本将在实验室中利用新技术进行研究，包括纳米压痕，以在加工温度下对钢材进行机械表征，从而开发加工方法，并指示哪些合金可以用于制造。这些数据与热处理和热轧和冷轧一起收集，旨在为将新合金扩大到商业生产制定可制造性指南。研究工程师将：-研究潜在的新钢成分，寻求改善钢的机械性能，同时探索加工性的影响，使用新技术来表征钢在运行工作台上冷却期间以及在卷取过程中的微观结构、残余应力和机械性能。-调查这些新型钢在焊接过程中产生的应力，以了解残余元素如何对焊接过程快速加热和冷却过程中产生的残余应力产生影响。

Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) are widely used in the automotive industry, offering both high strength and lightweight properties. These steels play a key role in reducing vehicle emissions and increasing the range of electric vehicles which will become more prominent on the roads as we head towards 2040 and the banning of conventional petrol/diesel vehicles.This project aspires to increase the formability of AHSS to benefit the design and manufacturing process, and to ultimately increase the range of products which can be produced. The aim of the project is to investigate the manufacturability of steels using rapid alloy prototyping, to produce small amounts of novel compositions. Small samples will be investigated in the laboratory utilising novel techniques, including nanoindentation to mechanically characterise the steels at processing temperatures, allowing development of processing methods and to give indications as to which alloys would be viable for manufacturing. This data, collected in conjunction with heat treatments and hot and cold rolling, is intended to develop manufacturability guidelines for upscaling new alloys to commercial production. The Research Engineer will: - Investigate potential new steel compositions seeking to improve the mechanical properties of steel, whilst exploring the implications of processability using novel techniques to characterise microstructures, residual stresses and mechanical properties during cooling of the steels on the run-out table, as well as during the coiling process.- Investigate stresses generated during welding of these novel steels, to understand how residual elements have on effect on residual stresses generated during the rapid heating and cooling of the welding process.