Hot Deformation Behavior of Low Carbon Steel during Compression at Elevated Temperature

Hot compression tests of low carbon steel were carried out on Gleeble-3500 system in the temperature range from 750 to 900 °C and in the strain rate range from 0.001 to 1.0 s−1, and the associated microstructural evolution was studied by observations with a metallographic microscope. The results show that the stress-strain curves exhibit a peak stress at critical strain, after which the flow stresses decrease monotonically until reaching high strains, showing a dynamic flow softening. The peak stress level decreases with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate, which can be represented by the Zener-Hollomon parameter Z in the hyperbolic sine equation. The flow stress increases with increasing strain rate and decreasing deforming temperature. The flow stress can be described by constitutive equation in hyperbolic sine function and can also be described by a Zener-Hollomon parameter Z. With increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate, the grain size as well as the volume fraction of the recrystallized grains increase. The safe region for hot working of the alloy has been determined according to the processing map and microstructure at the true strain of 0.5, which is the deformation temperature of 840–940 °C and the strain rate of 0.001–1.0 s−1.