TY - CONF A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Liquid Metal Embrittlement in High-Strength Steels N2 - One contribution of materials science to energy efficiency is the continuous development of novel high-performance structural materials that push the strength-ductility envelope. A prominent example are modern advanced high-strength steels (AHSSs), which have enabled considerable weight reductions in the automotive sector, thereby enabling greenhouse emission reductions. To protect such advanced alloys from property degradation via corrosion, zinc (Zn) coatings are often applied through galvanization. Whilst protective, a Zn-coating comes with problems – the AHSS substrate becomes susceptible for liquid-metal embrittlement (LME) than can be the origin of significant mechanical property degradation when liquified Zn infiltrates into the steel substrate. Being for from understood, we focus here on non-cracked environments to capture the early stages of LME. This approach revealed the nucleation and growth of nano-scale intermetallic phases inside uncracked GBs (Materials Today Advances 13, 100196, 2022), highlighting the complex multi-phase microstructure developing before cracking occurs. To shed further light on the early stages of LME in AHSSs, we also consider the microstructural evolution of interrupted welds. We discuss our findings in the context of the time-resolved substructure evolution right beneath the interface between the AHSS and the Zn-based coating and track how Zn progressively infiltrates the substrate along phase and grain boundaries. The experimental results are further corroborated with thermodynamic simulations. T2 - ASATM CY - Singapore DA - 10.01.2023 KW - Liquid-metal embrittlement KW - Steels KW - Grain boundaries KW - Micro-cracking PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-60647 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Wallis, Theophilus A1 - Maaß, Robert A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza T1 - Thermodynamics of grain boundary segregation transition and their relevance for liquid metal embrittlement in Fe-Zn system N2 - Grain boundaries (GBs) are common sites of failure in polycrystalline materials. Recently, a massive Zn segregation transition at Fe GBs was discovered and shown to act as a potent precursor of liquid metal embrittlement (LME) in the Fe-Zn system (Kamachali et al., Scripta Materialia 238 (2024) 115758). In this study, we elaborate on how temperature, GB type and the chemo-structurally coupled phase decomposition at the GB impact this segregation transition. CALPHAD and atomistic simulation data were utilized as inputs to conduct quantitative density-based thermodynamic modeling and phase-field simulations across various GBs, alloy compositions, and temperatures. We reveal that once the segregation transition becomes possible, the GB structural variation stabilizes spinodally formed Zn-rich phases within the GB region, with a higher tendency in disordered GBs. GB phase diagrams were constructed to identify and analyze the range of critical temperatures and alloy compositions associated with the segregation transition. The phase diagrams reveal that the miscibility gap for more disordered GB expands and, although the segregation transition is inevitable and occurs for all GBs, the barrier to triggering it is lower for more disordered GBs. Based on our thermodynamic analyses, potential processing modifications and GB engineering strategies for mitigating segregation-induced LME are thoroughly discussed. KW - Thermodynamics KW - Phase-Field Modelling KW - Steels PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-634145 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121134 SN - 1359-6454 VL - 296 SP - 1 EP - 11 PB - Elsevier BV AN - OPUS4-63414 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Ni, H.C. A1 - Chakraborty, A. A1 - Ghassemi-Armaki, H. A1 - Zuo, J.M. A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Segregation-induced grain-boundary precipitation during early stages of liquid-metal embrittlement of an advanced high-strength steel N2 - Liquid-metal embrittlement (LME) of galvanized (Zn-coated) advanced high-strength steels is a long-known problem in materials science. Here we reveal the initial microstructural processes underneath the Zn-coating that lead to LME-microcrack initiation in the steel substrate. We track the microstructural evolution during the first tens of milliseconds and find pronounced signatures of Fe-Zn intermetallic precipitation in both ferrite grain boundaries and at internal ferrite-oxide phase boundaries. In concert with novel CALPHAD-integrated density-based thermodynamic modelling, we demonstrate that Zn-rich intermetallic phase-nucleation can occur at markedly low processing temperatures due to a segregation transition. We show that a small Znenrichment caused by Zn bulk-diffusion during the initial temperature rise in a joining process is sufficient to induce the segregation transition and subsequent nucleation of Fe-Zn intermetallic grain-boundary phases, which the experiments link to crack initiation sites. These findings direct focus onto LME-controlling microstructural and thermodynamic phenomena at temperatures below the ductility trough and the austenite formation temperature. KW - Resistance spot welding KW - Liquid-metal embrittlement KW - Steels KW - Grain boundaries PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-581067 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.119243 VL - 259 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Elsevier Ltd AN - OPUS4-58106 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza A1 - Wallis, Theophilus A1 - Ikeda, Yuki A1 - Saikia, U. A1 - Ahmadian, A. A1 - Liebscher, C. A1 - Hickel, Tilmann A1 - Maaß, Robert T1 - Giant segregation transition as origin of liquid metal embrittlement in the Fe-Zn system N2 - A giant Zn segregation transition is revealed using CALPHAD-integrated density-based modeling of segregation into Fe grain boundaries (GBs). The results show that above a threshold of only a few atomic percent Zn in the alloy, a substantial amount of up to 60 at.% Zn can segregate to the GB. We found that the amount of segregation abruptly increases with decreasing temperature, while the Zn content in the alloy required for triggering the segregation transition decreases. Direct evidence of the Zn segregation transition is obtained using high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Base on the model, we trace the origin of the segregation transition back to the low cohesive energy of Zn and a miscibility gap in Fe-Zn GB, arising from the magnetic ordering effect, which is confirmed by ab-initio calculations. We also show that the massive Zn segregation resulting from the segregation transition greatly assists with liquid wetting and reduces the work of separation along the GB. The current predictions suggest that control over Zn segregation, by both alloy design and optimizing the galvanization and welding processes, may offer preventive strategies against liquid metal embrittlement. KW - CALPHAD KW - Microstructure Design KW - Grain boundary engineering KW - Steels KW - Density-based Model KW - Segregation Engineering PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-584292 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2023.115758 SN - 1359-6462 SN - 1872-8456 VL - 238 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-58429 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Darvishi Kamachali, Reza T1 - On the origin of embrittlement in Mn containing and Zn-coated steels N2 - Grain boundary embrittlement in medium-Mn steels and liquid metal embrittlement (LME) in Zn-coated high strength steels are among key challenges on the way of safe application of sustainable steels for automotive industry. Using a novel density-based model for grain boundaries, we reveal that the affinity of a grain boundary to attract Mn and Zn atoms result in a segregation transition accompanied by interfacial structural changes. In case of the Zn, the simulations show that the amount of segregation abruptly increases with decreasing temperature, while the Zn content in the alloy, required for triggering the segregation transition, decreases. The results are discussed in the context of CALPHAD-integrated density-based grain boundary phase diagrams. T2 - DPG 2024 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 17.03.2024 KW - Phase-Field Simulation KW - CALPHAD KW - Steels KW - Density-based Thermodynamics PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60743 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -