ISIJ International. Vol, 35 (1995), No. 12, pp.

1532-1 540

DynamicStrain Aging and the Wire Drawing of LQWCarbon Steel

Rods

A. KARIMITAHERl.T. M. MACCAGNO1)
and J. J. JONAS1)
Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. 1 Department of Metallvrgical )
Engineering. McGill University, Montreal, CanadaH3A2A7. E-mail address: Johnj@Minmet.Lan.Mcgill.Ca

(Received on ,4pril l7. 1995; accepted in final form on June 19. l995)

The dynamic strain aging behaviour of low carbon was examined at room temperature to
steel wire rod
450'C using tensile testing at strain rates of I 0-4 to I OI s~
The effects of temperature and strain rate
1.

on the yield stress, flow stress, UTS, fracture stress, and fracture strain were investigated
in detail. In

agreement with previous studies, work hardening peaks, minima in ductility, and negative strain rate
dependencesof the f[ow stress were observed between I OOand 400'C, the positions of which depended
on the strain rate. A model for dynamic strain aging is employed to predict whether or not wiil occur at
it

the strain rates and temperatures involved in commercial wire drawing. For a steel containing 32ppmN, a
5'C be attained for dynamic strain aging this is higher than
temperature higher than about 31 must to occur;
the temperatures usually encountered in drawing. However, the model also predicts that if the Ncontent
is increased to
115ppm, the minimumtemperature for dynamic strain aging decreases to about 250'C,
which can be attained if the die and capstan cooling are not adequate. The negative rate dependenceof
the flow stress attributable to dynamic strain aging is considered to promote flow localization and, therefore,
to be a possible cause of wire breaks during drawing.

KEYWORDS: dynamic strain aging; solute nitrogen; Iow carbon wire rod; wire drawing; wire breaks.

during drawing.
l .
Introduction
The present study was undertaken to investigate this
It is well knownthat the stress vs. strain curve of a hypothesis further, by assessing the dynamic strain aging
specimen of low carbon steel displays serrations in the behaviour of cornmercial wire rod, and relating the
work hardening region when tensile tested at slightly observatlons to the drawability of the material.
elevated temperatures,1~4) This serrated behaviour,
also known as the Portevin-LeChatelier effect, is ac- 2. Materials and Testing
companied by increased rates of work hardening,
negative strain rate depcndencesof the flow stress, and The low carbon steel rod used in this investigation had
reductions in ductility. In commercial steels, these phe- the following composition (in 0.07C, 0.46Mn,
wtolo):

due to interactions during deformation O.04Si, O.006P. 0.012S, O.04Cu, 0.07Ni, 0.05Cr, 0.001V,
nomenaare
between dislocations and, primarily, solute nitrogen. 0.03Co, O.0032N. It was received in the form of 5.5 mm
Such regular pinning and unpinning is termed dynamic diameter rod produced by the hot rolling of continuously
strain aging,5~14) and the most important variables cast 120
mm square billets. _

are the temperature, deformation rate, and

interstitial Laboratory tensile tests were used to assess the
concentration. 14 ~ 21) dynamic strain aging behaviour of this material. The
specimens were made by cutting 100 lengths from
The negative rate dependence of the flow stress, in mm
the rod and then straightening and machining them to
particular, can have important practical consequences.
For instance, Kubin and Steinl2) and Penning22) ex- the shape and dimensions shownin Fig. 1. Note that the
gauge length is greater than 5 times the diameter,
in
amined the dynamics of repeated discontinuous yieiding
accordance with the relevant ASTM Standard.24) The
in materials exhibiting a bounded region of negative
rate sensitivity, and demonstrated that deformation is specimenends were threaded to enable two stainless steel
unstable in this region. Morerecently, McCallumet al.23) temporary "shoulders" to be employedfor gripping the
have suggested that, during the commercial drawing of specimen. The small amount of plastic strain imposed
10wcarbon steel wire rod, wire breaks that are not related during initial strengthening was judged not to be sig=
to the presence of large inclusions, rolling defects, or nificant.Note also that the use of threaded shoulders
improper drawing machine setup can be attributed to prevented the ready observation of sharply defined
it enabled other aging
the localized flow induced by dynamic strain aging upper yield points. Nevertheless,

C 1995 ISIJ 1532

 ISIJ International, Vol. 35 (1 995), No. 12

thread (a)

1/4in-20
36 600
32 15 12

DIA 5.5 ~
:~
400
DIA 3 RAD3 ~
~o
DIA 13 d,

Fig. l. Tensne test specimen machined from rod sample and

~ 20o
threaded shoulder for gripping.
o O
Ire
~ C,)e I"I
e e O e e
NI o fe
i,, I,) ldD
C~ Q ,~1 ,1,

phenomenasuch as the propagation of Luders bands, O

serrated flow, increases in the flow stress, and decreases
o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
in ductility to be assessed in a rapid and quantitative Eng. strain
manner.
The tensile
tests were performed using a servohydrau- (b)

lic machine, with control and data acquisition

testing
600
carried out by a microcomputer. Four different strain
rates were investigated: 10~4, 10~3, l0~2 and lO~ I s~ l'
as well as temperatures from ambient to 450'C. For the ~
E
elevated temperature testing, the specimen was heated 400
at l'C/s using a microprocessor-controlled tungsten ~
,D

lamp radiant furnace mounted on the machine frame. ~CO

Temperature measurementand control were achieved d,

200
using a type K
(chromel-alumel) thermocouple placed UJ

against the centre of the specimen gauge length. Tem-

perature variations during testing were found not to
O ~
a- l,,
,,, e
e
i" e e Il,e e e o e
cl '~',
e Clt,,e
I!' iO
e u,
exceed ~
l'C. Each specimen was held at temperature
o
,~,C1, ~t
C~1 cl,
~r

5
for min prior to testing. In order to minimize oxidation,
o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
argon gas was passed through the quartz tube enclosing Eng, strain
the specimen and grips.
After each test, the data for load vs. actuator displace- Fig. 2 Stress vs. strain curves for specimens tensile tested at
various temperatures and a strain rate of:
ment were converted into engineering stress vs. strain (a) ~= l0~4 s~ I (b) ~= lO~ I s~ l
curves. From these, the following material properties
were derived: yield stress, flow stress at a given strain, 0.08
UTS, fracture stress, and fracture strain.
3. Results
0.06
The stress vs. strain curves displayed significant
changesin appearance as the temperature wasincreased; =
.~
I~
this occurred at all the strain 'p
rates investigated, in 'o
0.04
'o
agreement with previous work.1-7,15-21) A series of 'D
l
such curves for specimens tested between room tem- ~ i serrations

J O,
perature and 450'C is illustrated in Fig. 2(a) for a strain I
0,02 D I
rate of 10~4s1 and in Fig. 2(b) for l0~1 s~1. At the -D
*t.
lower strain rate, serrations begin to appear in the work
serrations
hardening region at about 100'C, with their magnitude D
and frequency increasing as the ternperature is increased ,
o
to 200'C. At higher tempeatures, the serrations begin o loo 20o 30o 400 500
to disappear from portions of the curves until they are Temperature ('c)
mostly absent at about 350'C. By increasing the strain Flg' 3. Temperature dependence of the Ltiders strain at
rate to l0~1 s~1, the temperatures of appearance and ~= ro~4 and 10-1 s~1.
disappearance of the serrations shlft to 225 and 450'C,
respectlvely. In addition, their magnitude and frequency indicated. The humps(local maxima) of the curves are
decrease significantly. seen to be identified with serrated fiow. As observed by
Figure 2 also reveals that the amount of the Lilders earlier workers, Iarger Lilders strains are associated
strain depends on the testing temperature and strain with faster straining.25)
rate. These variations are plotted in Fig. 3, where the Referring again to Fig. 2, the work hardening rate
temperatures at which serrated flow begins are also increases with temperature to maximumvalue, and a

1533 C 1995 ISIJ

 IS[J International, Vol. 35 (1 995). No. 12

800 800
(a)

-1- UTS (b)

'-~- flow str. at 0.1 2

600 l~-flowstr,ato,09 600
a~ ,5
~
:~ '-Q- flow str. at o.06
~
~i

:o
400 -
-I~
-,Fyjeld
tracture stress

stres5
~ 40o
d,

~co
~
d, d'
~ 200 -
~ 200

o o
o 100 200 300 400 500 o 100 200 300 400 500
Temperature ('C)
Temperature ('c)

800 800
(c) (d)
-1-- UTS

600
-~-
-t~-fls
fl
s. a.12

600 009

~
E
,g
~
:~
--(~- fl.s.
oou
-t-,frs
~
~
,o
400
~
,O
CO
O
,a
400 ys

d, Ch
c
uJ UJ
~
200 20o

o o
O 100 200 300 400 500 o I OO 200 300 4OO 5oo
Temperature ('C) Temperature ('C)

Fig. 4. Temperature dependenceofthe yield, flow, ultimate, and fracture stresses at a strain rate of:
(a)~=10~4s~1 (b)~=10~3s~1 (c)~=10~2s~1 (d)~=10~Is~1

then remains nearly constant until the serrations 800

disappear completely. This dependence of the work
hardening behaviour on temperature is shown more
clearly in Fig. 4, where the yield and flow stresses at _1_ D
600 i ' 111 _ . .e-
various strains are plotted as functions of temperature.
In those cases where the curves were serrated, the stress
D
levels at the mid-height of the serrations
were selected ~
E_400 e
to represent the yield stresses, fiow stresses, fracture
u)
stresses, and UTS's. Broad peaks are observed, the H
:,
heights of which increased with strain. At strain rates of -4 .1

l0~4, 10~3, and l0~2 s~ 1, the peak in the fiow stress at 1- io

-3
s
200 ~I~ 10
12 o/o strain is located at about 590 MPa, but at a strain
rate of 10~1 s~1 it decreases to about 470 MPa. The
dH 10 -1

temperatures at which these peaks appear increase with

-~ la

strain rate. o
UTSvs. temperature for the four strain rates
Plots of o 1OO 200 300 400 500
employed here are presented in Fig. 5. The lines drawn Temperature ('C)

through the experimental points are based on best-fit Fig. 5. Temperature dependenceof the UTSat various strain
polynomial equations. There is a temperature at which rates.

the UTS
displays a maximum at each strain rate. The
position of the maximum shifts from about 230 to about
a considerable reduction ductility in
at in_ termediate
380'C as the strain rate is increased from l0~4 to temperatures. The minimum in the fracture strain shifts
l0~1 s~1. to higher temperatures as the strain rate is increased, in
The dependence of the fracture strain on test tem- agreement with the results of earlier investigators. s,2 5 28)
-
perature is illustrated in Fig. 6. It is evident that there is For example, at ~= 10~4s~ l, the minimumin the frac-

C 1995 ISIJ 1534

 ISIJ International, Vol. 35 (1995), No. 12

0.4 5oO
(a)

CI ti

0.3 - -
e:
o 400
=
~
I '
o D, , ~
L
tJ
a'
8 ,
.
e E d
Q'L
0.2 ' D ...d. o
---
:
.d e
o
,5 '
I o
L D U'
300
LL D -4 -1 x UTS
HF 10 s
0.1 ' ~
~:~
10~3 Aflow str.
O12
10~2
~= 10~1 A flow str. 0.09

~- Dflow str.
O06
200
o .5 104 0~3 0~2 0~1 100
o 1oo 2oo 300 400 500 10 1 1 1
Temperature ('c) Strain rate 8
(s~1
)
Fig. 6. Temperature dependence of the tracture strain at 700
various strain rates. (b)

x
ture strain is at about 125'C, while at ~= l0~1 s1, it 600
A ' +..~ ~*'.
" .'
shifts to 325'C. ""~ st" " oe
The dependencesof the flow stress and UTSon strain
rate are different for different temperatures, as illustrated
~
E
500 *
in Fig. 7. At 25'C, where no serrated stressstrain curves ,o
co
were observed in the strain rate range studied, the fiow O 4oO
stress and UTS
increase with strain rate, Fig. 7(a). co

However, at 150 and 250'C, where serrated stress-strain

curves were observed, the strain rate dependenceof the 30o
stress is negative (Figs. 7(b) and 7(c)). The negative rate
sensitivity associated with dynamic strain aging will
200
promote fiow localization, and thus the occurrence of 0~5 104 10~3 10~2 1OO
0~1
wire breaks during drawing, as discussed in more detail 1 1
in Sec. 4.3. Strain rate 8
(s'l
)
Dynamic strain aging in steel has been commonly 7oo
analyzed by measuring the minimumand maximum (c)

temperatures associated with the occurrence of serra-

tions, and then expressing their dependenceson strain 600
rate by meansof an Arrhenius equation:

~= Aexp ~ Q .(1) ~
E
50o
RT e
coo d
Here ~is the strain rate, Rthe gas constant, Aa frequency 400
Qthe activation energy, and T the absolute
,,,
factor, *
temperature. The conditions associated with the ap-
300
pearance of serrations are displayed in the Arrhenius
plot of Fig. 8. The filled squares represent completely
serrated stress-strain curves, the open ones are identified
200
with perfectly smooth curves, while the partially filled
1O4 1Oo
0~2 0~1
1O~3
-5
squares represent intermediate degrees of serration.
10 1 (s~1 1
The two heavy lines bound the region where at least
Strain rate 8 )
Fig. 7. Strain rate dependenceof the flow stress and UTSat
someserrations are found. The slopes of these lines lead temperatures of:
to activation energies of 84,1 and 134 kJ/mol for the (a) 25'C (b) 150'C (c) 250'C
minimumand maximumtemperatues associated with
the appearance of serrations, respectively. The lighter
lines fitted between the two heavy lines connect tests 4. Discussion
displaying similar stress strain~:urves. 4.1. Activation Energies for DynamicStrain Aging
The general features of dynamic strain aging in steels
with different chemical compositions, prior heat treat-
ments, and production procedures have been described

1535 C 1995 ISIJ

 ISIJ International. Vol, 35 (1995), No. 12

Table Wire drawing conditions employed in Ref. 23).

103 727 C 394 227 127 60 13
l.

~:::~::~li~ns Die Entry Exit Exit Entry Exit

Die
: semi-angle diameter diameter velocity strain rate strain rate
101 ;_ .
IfuN 5errations no. (deg) (mm) (mm) (m/s) (s ~ 1) (s ~I
)
,o
l 6 5.50 4.70 l .73 97 155
cA' 2 6 4.70 4.01 2.36 l 54 247

O 10-1 '--O' Ch D eF
O"-D" ' '
'D'-:- 3 4.01 3.43 2.97 247 398
'1$
4 6 3.43 2.97 4.35 400 615
=
ODD D O: 5 4 2.97 2.59 5.72 409 617
6 4
'l'
2.59 2.29 7.34 619 896
,,)

1 0-3 ' - ' T O - 'D' ' 'D- ' ' ' ' D' ':.
. - - - -
7 4 2.29 2.03 9.29 891 1280

no serrations I~- serratiOns

: l)Fno serratiOns

:DD \~~ D D : strains.

10-5 4.2. Ductilities and Flow Stresses

0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5
The minima in the fracture strains, shown in Fig. 6,
100OI T (K~1
) are in accordance with the findings of other investigators.
Fig. 8. Temperature and strain rate range over which Bergstrom and Roberts attributed these minima to the
serrations are observed. optimal locking of stationary dislocations under con-
ditions where the mobile dislocations remain un-
by several workers.1'2,5,6,15,18,2i) It is generally accept- pinned.26) Dynamicstrain aging has also been considered
ed that these effects are due to the interaction between to reduce the fracture strain in mild steel by promoting
mobile dislocations and active interstitial solutes, mainly the lining-up of voids.27)
nitrogen in commercial steels.29~34) Solute concentra- The flow stress peaks produced by varying the tem-
tions as low as 10ppmare considered sufficient to perature. Figs. 4 and 5, are considered to be major
produce dynamic strain aging in these materials.20) The features of dynamic strain aging.6,34) The increased
present wire rod contained a total of 32ppmN. A stress seemsto result from the pinning and regeneration
significant proportion of this total was expected to be in of dislocations. Fromdislocation density measurements,
solid solution because of the fairly rapid (fan) cooling it is clear that these peaks
are associated with an en-
applied immediately after hot rolling, together with the hanced rate of dislocation multiplication.15)
absence of nitride formers such as A1 or Ti. Another important effect associated with dynamic
The activation energy determined here for the first strain aging is the negative rate dependenceof the flow
appearance of dynamic strain aging on heating (84.l stress, which is displayed on the low temperature side of
kJ/mol) is near to that for interstitial diffusion of nitro- the ductility minimurn.5,6~ 15,34) As shownin Figs. 7(b)
gen in ferrite (76.0kJ/m0135)). It is also close to that and 7(c), at temperatures of 150 and 250'C, the flow
reported by Sleeswyk,36) who studied the onset of stress decreases when the strain rate isincreased. It
serrations in Armco iron by changing the strain rate has been shown that if, result of the negative rate
as a
during deformation at various temperatures. His ex- dependence, flow can take place at a lower stress, then
perimental results were presented in the form of a straining will lead to unstable deformation and to
log (T~) vs. (1/T) plot, which exhibited an activation eventual flow localization.6,40) This view is employedin
energy of 84.1 kJ/mol (Here ~is the strain rate of the the next section to explain someof the wire breaks that
test.). However, Sleeswyk's results can also be plotted
standard Arrhenius plot, which leads to a value
occur in steels containing N
in solution during industrial
on a wire drawing.23)
of 79.9 kJ/mol. 15)
4.3. Implications for Drawability
By noting the minimumtemperature which ser-
at
rations appeared during their tests
first of a 0.27 olo C To demonstrate that reduced drawability can result
steel, Kinoshita et al.37) established that the activation from the localized fiow induced by negative rate sen-
energy was 79.9kJ/mol, and this was said to be com-
sitivity, it
must be first established that the occurrence
parable to that of Lean.38) Keh et al.15) reported values of dynamic strain aging is possible at the strain rates
of 79.5 to 83.7kJlmol for the onset of serrations on and temperatures involved in commercial wire drawing.
heating and 127.6kJ/mol for their termination; these Measurements41'42) and calculations43'44) show that,
values are in good agreement with those obtained in even with ample water cooling of the dies and capstans,
the present work (84.1 and 134 kJ/mol, respectively). the wire temperature mayexceed 200'C during passage
Other workers have proposed activation energies ranging through the later dies of a multiple die machine. In order
from 125 to 146kJ/mol for the later portions of their to assess the strain rates attained during drawing, a
stress-strain curves.28,39) It has been suggestedl5) that seven-die commercial wire drawing machine23) is con-
the significantly higher activation energy for the dis- sidered here (the operating parameters of which are
appearance of serrations on heating comes about be- summarizedin Table l).
cause the binding energy of interstitial atoms to the As the wire diameter decreases from 5.5 to 2.03 mm,
dislocation core (about 50.2kJ/mol in iron5)) must be the drawing speed at the exit of the successive dies
added to that for diffiusion N
(76.0kJ/mol) at higher increases to maintain continuity. Using the analysis

C 1995 ISIJ 1536

 ISIJ International, Vol. 35 (1 995). No. 12

1400 deformation zone. Thus, wire drawing produces higher

strains than a nominally equivalent amount of tensile
die 7
1200 deformation, Ieading to higher dislocation densities.
Furthermore, the hydrostatic pressure developed during
1000 wire drawing also acts to increase the density of mobile
co die 6 dislocations.46) Finally, the maximumstrains attainable
ee 800 by wire drawing are a full order of magnitude higher
a,
die 5 than the uniform strains generally reached in tensile
co
600
die 4~ ~ ~ ~ testing. As will be shownbelow, the appreciably higher
f:
densities of mobile dislocations generated during draw-
-'
,,,
40o - die 3- - -
ing can give rise to dynamic strain aging even at wire
'
die 2 drawing strain rates and temperatures.
200 '
die 1 4.3.1.Strain Rate Range for Serrated Flow during
o Wire Drawing
O O.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 Using the CottrellBilby model of strain aging,29)
Strain 8
McCormick46,47) showed that dynamic strain aging
Dependence of instantaneous occurs whenthe strain rate is less than a critical value,
Fig. 9.
on the
strain rate
for the die conditions summarized ~~**, associated with the diffusive "velocity" of the in-
accumulated strain
in Table l. terstitial atoms at the temperature of interest:

proposed by Blazynski,45) the instantaneous strain 8H ~~ ~*.* _

~ C
ccCo)3/2
~ Lp~U~D
RTb """' . . . . . . . . .
(4)

rate ~H Within the deformation

1
and instantaneous strain
of each die can be calculated using the following
Here Co is the solute concentration, Cl the fraction of
zone
relationships: locked atomic sites along the dislocation, L the average
distance between obstacles, U* the solute-dislocation
do binding energy (in J/mol), p~ the mobile dislocation
8H=2ln ...(2)
d density, D
the diffusivity of the solute, the absoluteT
4d~ V* tan oc
temperature, R the gas constant, the b
Burgers vector,
.

BH~ """""(3) and Qc-3.

d3
Here c( is the die half angle, do the wire diameter at the
die entrance, d* the wire diameter at the die exit, the
instantaneous wire diameter within the deformation
zone, and V. the drawing speed at the die exit. Using
""'
This relation is intended ~o describe the upper line
~
shownon the log vs. l/T plot in Fig. 8. Uponsubstituting
the following values into Eq. (4): oc=3, C0=32x l0~6
d L=10~4cm, p*=1010cm~2, U~=50000J/mol,
D=
3.0x lO~ 3 exp(80 OO0/8.31 T), b= 2.48 x lO~ 8 cm, it was

the data from Table 1, the dependence of the instan- found that a value of C1~0.2 was required in order for
taneous strain rate on the instantaneous strain can be Eq. (4) to fit the tensile test results. This value is some-
plotted for the seven dies (Fig. 9). As can be seen from what lower than the Cl ~0.5 to I commonlyemployed
the figure, the strain rate at the entrance to the first die in formulationsfor static strain aging.29) Physically, it
is 97s~1 and it increases to 155 s~1 at the exit. For the means that the periodic dislocation pinning and un-
280s~1 pinning associated with dynamic strain aging may in-
last die (no. 7), these values are 891 and 1 volve solute atoms occupying only every fifth possible
respectively. The question then arises whether such
combinations of strain rate and wire temperature (e.g. site (instead of every site, C1
I
= , or every second
site,

200'C, as indicated above) can give rise to dynamic C1=0.5, as under static conditions).
strain aging during commercial wire drawing. Measurementsof the mobile dislocation density car-
ried out by various workers indicate that
At first sight, inspection of the vs. 1/T results pre- ~ p* increases
continuously and almost linearly vvith strain.46) Assum-
sented in Fig. 8
for uniaxial tension suggests a negative
answer. Evenat temperature as high as 250'C, the strain
ing that L for low C
steel is independent of the disloca-
tion density,46) Eq. (4) indicates that, at a given tem-
rates involved in wire drawing remain well above the
perature and solute concentration, the strain rate at
range associated with serrated flow in Fig. 8. This makes
intuitive sense in that dynamic strain aging involves the
which serrations disappear increases by I or 2 orders of
diffusion of solute atoms to moving dislocations; thus magnitude whenthe dislocation density increases by I or
still higher tempeatures would be required for diffusion 2 orders of magnitude.
to keep pace with the fast moving dislocations associated According to the tensile test results presented in Fig.
with high strain rate deformation. 8, the strain rate range over which dynamic strain aging
However, there are several differences between uni- ~
occurs at 225'C is about = lO~ 5 to 10 I
1.
This strain
rate range applies to the dislocation densities generated
s
axial tensile deformation and wire drawing which can
act so as to reduce the temperature range associated during tensile deformation. In the first wire drawing die,
with serrated fiow. For example, in drawing, there is the strain is only marginally greater than that achieved
significant inhomogeneous deformation arising from during tensile testing; thus, the strain rate range over
the redundant strains introduced by the shape of the which serrated flow can be expected during wire drawing

1537 C 1995 ISIJ

 ISIJ International, Vol. 35 (1995), No. 12
remains about lO~ 5 to lO I s~ FromFig. 9, the strain
1.
104
rate in the first die (~
**t*y =
97s~1 ~ =155s~i) is well
, .**t .
727'c 394 227 127 6O
above this range, indicating that dynamic strain aging T ce (~) 1!2

cannot take place in this die. The value of p~ increases 103 wire
in successive dies, which progressively raises the strain conditions
,o
rate limit for dynamic strain aging.
better cooling
we assumethat the mobile dislocation density dur-
,to
If
o 102
ing wire drawing increases to 1012 cm~2, comparedto a cl lower speed
value of about 1010cm~2during tensile testing, then =
,1
Eq. (4) indicates that the strain rate range over which
u) 101 rl~~~~~~~7:~~~lno
dynamic strain aging can take place increases to about serratlons serrations

l0~3 to 101 s1. Thus, the strain rates in the later dies
estimate Eqn 4
(~=400 to I OOOs~1,Fig. 9) still remain outside the from Fig. 8
boundary of the dynamic strain aging region for the 100
present 32ppmN steel, and whendeformation heating 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5
does not raise the temperature above about 200'C. (K~1
1000 / T )
4.3.2. Temperature Range for Serrated Flow during Fig. lO. Comparison of the calculated dynamic strain aging
Wire Drawing range pertaining to wire drawing with the die con-
Using Eq. (4) and the tensile test data, it is possible ditions. The equation relating the wire temperature
to the drawing strain rate is also shown. The figure
to estimate the teniperature that must be reached for
indicates how improved die cooling and lower
dynamic strain aging to take place in a 32ppmN steel drawing speeds movethe drawing conditions away
during wire drawing. If it is assumedthat all the para- from the dynamic strain aging region. Conversely,
meters in Eq. (4) are held constant, except the dislocation ineffective cooling and higher speeds can displace the
density and temperature, the following relationship can wire conditions into the aging range.
be derived:
dynamic strain aging range. By combining the equation

TwTt'8tPWexp 8'31Tw
-Q relating wire temperature to drawing speed (Tcc(V.)1/2
Ref. 41)) with Eq. (3), weobtain the relationship between
..(5)
8'31Tt)
-Q T and ~for constant die heat transfer conditions. This
8wptexp relation is also displayed in Fig. 10, from which it can
be seen that lowering the drawing speed does indeed
Here ~t and ~~ are the strain rates during tensile testing movethe wire conditions further awayfrom the dynamic
and wire drawing, respectively, pt and p~ the mobile strain aging range.
dislocation densities during tensile testing and drawing, By
contrast, if the die cooling is less effective, this

and Tt and T~ are the minimumtemperatures associated increases the wire temperature, and from Fig. 10, the
with serrated fiow during tensile testing and drawing. drawing conditions move towards the dynamic strain
FromFig. 8, the minirnum temperature compatible with aging range. At a strain rate of 400 s1, the boundary
the appearance of serrations during tensile testing at a of the range is reached at about 320'C, which is con-
strain rate of 10~ I s~1 is about 200'C. If the following siderably above the temperatures normally attained
values are used in Eq. (5): ~*=10~Is~1, Tt=473K, during drawing. Similarly, increasing the drawing speed
pt=1010cm~2, ~~=400s~i, and p~=1012cm~2,the will also
movethe drawing conditions closer to those
minimumtemperature for the appearance of serrations pertaining to the occurrence of dynamic strain aging.
in wire drawing T~ calculated
is to be about 315'C.
The strain rate and temperature range within which
4.3.3. Effect of Content N
dynamic strain aging can take place during wire drawing
Previous workers have demonstrated that is
N
primarily responsible for dynamic strain aging effects in
is presented in Fig. lO. Here, the
upper line is calculat- commercial steels, and that the minimumtemperature
ed from Eq. (4) (using 1012 ~ 2), which represents
p~ = cm for serrated flow decreases as the nitrogen content is
an upwards shift of this line of about two orders increased.23,28,34) Equation (4) can also be used to
of magnitude compared with the corresponding one
pertaining to tensile testing (upper line in Fig. 8). The
examine the effect of N
concentration on commercial
wire drawing. If weassumethat all the other parameters
10wer line in Fig. 10 is obtained by shifting the lower in Eq. (4) are constant, then:
line in Fig. 8upwardsby two orders of magnitude. From
this diagram, it is apparent that the use of ~2 C02~3/2
moreeffective """""(6)
die dboling to lower the wire temperature will movethe ~~
e1
Co,)
drawing conditions further away from the dynamic
where ~l and ~2 are the maximum strain rates for the
strain aging range.
appearance of serrations in the steels with Ncontents of
Lowering the drawing speed is another means of
Col and C02' respectively. The N concentration of the
lowering the wire temperature, but the situation is
present steel was 32ppm, and the above discussion
somewhatmore complex because decreasing the strain
suggests that the minimumtemperature for serrated flow
rate also moves the drawing conditions closer to the
at strain rates of 400 s~1 is about 315'C. Using these

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 ISIJ International. Vol. 35 (1995), No. 12

104 examine the dynamic strain aging behaviour of low

727ec 394 227 127 60
carbon steel rod, and to assess the implications of this
effect
on wire drawability. The conclusions that were
wlre
drawn can be summarizedas follows:
IL

103 1
l/=j':i condltlons

,O
(1) Dynamicstrain aging takes place during uniaxial
tensile testing in the temperature
.ee range 100 to 400'C, at
strain rates from l0~4 to 10~ I s~ l. As result, the yield
,D 102 a
,1
increasing N stress, flow stress. UTS, and fracture stress all exhibit
i maxima, the positions of which depend on strain rate
,U

U)
101 r;;1:1;~~~i;~1 [Ti7r:~;11;7~~T;~no and temperature. The temperature at which the peak
serratlons ' serrations
occurs is 230'C at 10~4s~i; this increases with strain
32ppm 115ppm rate to 380'C at lO~ I s~ 1. Similar behaviour is observed
N N for the flow stress at a given strain.
100 (2) At room temperature, the Ltiders strain is about
0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5
O.03 at a strain rate of 10 ~4 s~ 1, and increases with strain
1000/T (K~i
) rate to 0.07 at lO~ I s~ 1. Similar but smaller changes are
observed at higher temperatures.
Fig. Il. This diagram showshowincreasing the Ievel
moves N (3) The fracture strains also depend on the strain
the upper boundary of the dynamicstrain aging range
closer to the wire conditions. rate and temperature; they exhibit minima of 0,12 to
0.14, and 0,16 to 0,18, respectively. These minima are
data in Eq. (6), the minimumtemperature for the ap- located at temperatures below those associated with the
pearance of serrations in a steel containing I 15ppm UTSpeaks.
N is estimated to decrease
to about 250'C (see Fig. 11); (4) The activation energy for dynamic strain aging
thus, the strain rates achieved in wire drawing
are within I
increases from 84. kJlmol at the lower temperature limit
the dynamic strain aging regime for the higher steel
only if the temperature is permitted to attain this level.
N 1
for serrated flow, to 34 kJ/mol at the upper temperature
limit. The first value is close to that reported for the
Such high temperatures, in turn, can only be attained in diffusion of nitrogen in a(-iron, while the second cor-
the absence of effective die and capstan cooling. If this responds to the sum of the diffusion activation energy
is the
case, Iocalized flow and instability can occur, and the binding energy of interstitial solutes at dislo-
which can in turn lead to wire breaks, as argued above. cations.
However, even if the conditions are such that dynamic (5) A model can be employed to predict whether or
strain aging does not take place, the authors have found not dynamic strain aging will occur at the strain rates
that rods with high solute
ceptibilities
N
Ievels also have high sus- and temperatures involved in commercial wire drawing.
to multi-stage static strain aging. The Onthe basis of the tensile testing results, it indicates that
latterprocess can occur during the interval between die a temperature of about 315'C must be attained for the
passes at temperatures as low as 100'C, and also results onset of dynamic strain aging during the wire drawing
in significantly reduced drawability.48) of a steel containlng 32ppmN. This is outside the
The conc]usion that strain aging can occur in the temperature range usually encountered in drawing.
wire drawing of high N
steels in the absence of effective However, the model also predicts that if the N content
cooling is supported by the observations of McCallum is increased from 32 to
I 15ppm, the minimumtem-
et al.23) They employed the processing conditions listed perature for dynamic strain aging decreases to about
in Table I to draw heats containing from 36 to
115ppm 250'C, which can be attained if the die and capstan
N, and observed wire breaks in the later dies whendraw- cooling are not adequate. Whenthe die cooling is
ing the higher N
heats. By contrast, heats containing adequate and dynamic strain aging does not take place,
N
lower levels of (32 or 36 ppm)were drawn successfully. high solute N Ievels can still produce ductility decreases
N
Theselower Ievels were shownabove to be well outside as a result of multi-stage static strain aging. This implies
the dynamic strain aging region and not very susceptible that high N steels can have lower drawabilities than low
to static strain aging, and such steels are thus not ex-
pected to exhibit reduced ductilities.
N steels, in accordance with the observations of previous
workers.
The better drawability of aluminum and silicon- (6) The negative strain rate dependenceof the flow
aluminum killed steels, compared with silicon-killed stress in the dynamic strain aging regime promotes flow
steels of similar chemistry, can also be explained by their localization during wire drawing. This is considered a
10wer susceptibilities to multi-stage static and dynamic possible cause of the wire breaks that cannot be attributed
N
strain aging. When is cornbined with a nitride former to the presence of large inclusions and rolling defects, or
such as A1 or Ti, there is less available in solution for to the occurrence of multi-stage strain aging around the
the occurrence of both static and dynamic strain aging. drawing machine capstans.
Acknowledgments
5. Conclusrons The authors thank Mr. R. McCallum and Dr. P.
Tensile tests were carried out from Hastings of lvaco Rolling Mills, L'Orignal. Ontario,
room temperature
to 450'C at strain rates of 10~4 to lO~ I s~ I in order to Canada, and Mr. L. Lemoine of Sivaco National Wire,

1539 C 1995 ISIJ

 ISIJ International, Vol. 35 (1 995), No. 12

Marieville, supplying the test

Quebec, Canada, for l 9) C. C. Li and W. C. Leslie: Meta!!. Trans, A, 9A, (1978), 1765.
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