Comment on Aging-induced anisotropy of mechanical

properties in steel products: Implications for the

measurement of engineering properties by Richards et
al. [Mat. Sci. Eng. A 529 (2011) 184]
Santiago A. Serebrinsky
Center for Industrial Research, TenarisSiderca,
Dr. Jorge A. Simini 250, (B2804MHA) Campana, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract
The concept of a strain aging induced anisotropy in mechanical properties,
proposed by Richards et al. [Mat. Sci. Eng. A 529 (2011) 184], is shown to
be misleading. Anisotropy of strain aging kinetics is proposed as a possible
source of confusion.
Keywords: mechanical characterization, steel, bulk deformation, aging,
plasticity

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1. Introduction
A paper was recently published by Richards et al. [1] on the subject of
strain aging and its effect on mechanical behavior of materials. Its title is
representative of a main idea developed throughout that article. This idea
may be summarized as
strain aging induces an anisotropy in mechanical properties of steel
products,

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which is strongly misleading, as it implies that such anisotropy was not

present prior to the strain aging treatment, and that strain aged materials

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Preprint submitted to Materials Science and Engineering A

December 6, 2012

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are to be evaluated in this regard with special care as compared to materials

that are only cold deformed (e.g., those same materials without strain aging).
It is the purpose of the present note to show that the summarizing statement above, and therefore also the conclusions derived from it, do not faithfully describe observed material behavior. Section 2 is devoted to showing
conclusively that ref. [1] actually supports such statement, so that it is clear
that its spirit is not misinterpreted. Section 3 presents evidence, including experimental data and textbook material, that anisotropy of mechanical
properties in steel products is not induced by strain aging. A possible cause
for [1] to advocate a misleading concept is suggested. Section 4 summarizes
the conclusions.

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2. Message conveyed by ref. [1]

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We next quote several passages of the cited article which repeatedly describe the same incorrect idea with a varying stress.
General statements provided are:
From the abstract: Aging effects are generally characterized through
the use of results from mechanical tests in which the strain path prior to
aging (prestrain) and the strain path after aging are in the same direction. However, these tests do not completely characterize the properties
of aged materials, since the effects of aging are reduced when materials
are tested in directions different than the direction of prestrain. The
result is anisotropy of properties which can affect the performance of
industrial products.
Closure of the abstract: . . . the importance of correct evaluation of
mechanical performance in the design of structural components in materials which undergo aging.
Because the directional nature of aging can result in mechanical properties that are directionally dependent (anisotropic), strain aging can
produce unexpected mechanical behavior in certain situations.
. . . if strain aging is a component of the processing of a material,
whether intentional or not, its mechanical properties must be carefully characterized to ensure they are completely understood for design
purposes.
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The concept posited in [1] is exemplified there by two cases largely dealt
with in the literature. These are: 1) the strength and dent resistance of
automotive body panels, and 2) the mechanical properties of high-strength
pipeline steels formed by the UOE process. In both cases, strain aging is
known to improve respective key mechanical properties of the products. Regarding example 1, the authors assert that:

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. . . This apparently anomalous behavior has been observed previously

[30] and is another example of anisotropy induced through strain aging.

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Regarding example 2, it is reported that:

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From the abstract: The second example shows the effect of aging on
the anisotropy of tensile data from two American Petroleum Institute
(API) grade X100 pipe steels in the as-received condition . . . The high
degree of anisotropy in the yield strength and yielding behaviors between the circumferential and longitudinal tensile data in the two pipe
steels demonstrates the effect of strain path on a materials response to
aging, . . .
. . . process-induced deformation and strain aging combine to induce
significant differences in the longitudinal vs. transverse tensile properties in a high-strength pipeline steel, with implications for pipeline
design methods.
. . . Significant strain aging results in anisotropy of mechanical properties, as described in the study below.

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All this unmistakably shows that the conception expressed in the title of
[1] is consistently elaborated on throughout that article.

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3. Actual origin of anisotropy in mechanical properties

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As it is well known [many standard textbooks, e.g., 2, 3], anisotropy and

directionality are expected to develop in many cold-worked metallic products,
including those that are expected to undergo strain aging (as a fundamental
step in their design or not). The most basic example is provided by the
Bauschinger effect which develops in uniaxially strained metals. Figure 1
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Figure 1: Tensile curve, and a series of compression curves after tension, demonstrating
the Bauschinger effect in steel [4].

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shows a tensile curve, along with a series of compression curves after tension
up to varying first strain, for a martensitic tempered steel [4]. A second
deformation in the same direction as the first one leads to a stress-strain
curve closely overlapping that of the first deformation, for any initial strain
level. This markedly contrasts with the compression curves shown.
The Basuchinger effect described above, exhibiting directionality of mechanical properties after cold work, is a particular case of a more general feature named kinematic hardening in the solid mechanics community. There is
a large body of literature devoted to studying mechanical behavior of materials deformed under changing strain path, including a quest for systematic
trends across different materials [e.g., 5]. Many of these studies were based
on two sequential monotonic loading paths, and the determination of: 1)
some measure of the relative orientation between the direction of first deformation and a preferred material direction (e.g., the rolling direction of
plate material), 2) some measure of the relative orientation between the
directions of the second and first deformations, and 3) some measure of the
flow stress at the first (R ) and second ( ) deformations. Figure 2 shows the
effect of on the ratio /R , as compiled in [5] for different materials, under
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Figure 2: Effect of strain path change parameter on flow stress ratio between second
and first deformations. An approximate scatter band of a large number of experimental
results is plotted, based on data compiled in [5].

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many different first and second deformation modes (e.g., uniaxial, biaxial and
pure shear), and varying . The reader is referred to [5] for the definitions of
, , R , and , as these are not relevant for the idea developed here. Besides the remarkable apparent universal nature of the dependence of /R
on the selected parameter , I want to remark here a more basic fact: fig.
2 clearly shows the general anisotropy developed after the first deformation.
Even considering a single material and one initial deformation, only a flat
band would correspond to isotropic materials after a first deformation. Thus,
the point arrived at by the authors of [1] is not a peculiarity of strain-aged
materials.
In the case of bake-hardenable steels for automotive body parts (example
1), specific studies of the directionality both after deformation and after
strain aging are available. In particular, the test consisting of stretching 2
percent, aging at 170 C for 20 min and then testing in the same direction as
the initial deformation, was considered [6]. It was established that in relation
to service performance of a pressing, the information given by such a test is
limited because the increases in yield strength given by both the prestrain,
and the strain aging treatment are directional.
In the case of pipes formed by the UOE process (example 2), even without
strain aging, anisotropy and directionality of mechanical properties have to
be accounted for in some way to evaluate their collapse resistance under
external pressurization, and thus their applicability to deep and ultra-deep
waters [e.g., 7, 8], as explicitly considered in the DNV OS-F101 standard [9].
The relevant behavior for determining the collapse pressure is in transverse
compression, and consideration of other deformation modes would lead to
inaccuracies.
The information presented in [1] on the anisotropic mechanical properties
of strain aged materials is an exemplification on how submitting a material
to a strain aging process is not generally sufficient to recover the isotropy in
mechanical properties of the material prior to cold working (albeit possibly to
a different condition from it). Such anisotropy develops during cold working,
as shown above, and not during strain aging. Thus, this is a case of persistent
anisotropy, rather than induced anisotropy.
It is worth noting that the purpose of this note is not delving into the
mechanisms of anisotropy development in metallic materials under plastic
deformation (although many of the references cited here do), but rather to
provide engineering experimental evidence on the existence of that anisotropy
through the observation of macroscopic plasticity parameters.
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3.1. Anisotropy in strain aging kinetics

This aspect of strain aging is suitably studied by measuring the kinetics
of strain aging, taking into account the relative directions of pre- and postdeformation, a subject that was dealt with in detail in [6, 1012], among
many others.
It is worth noting that what many authors found in such studies is that
the kinetics of strain aging are very often anisotropic (note that the veracity
of this assertion may depend somewhat on the particular kinetic parameter to
be considered), but this possible cause of confusion is a completely different
topic, and it is not the source of the final anisotropic mechanical properties.
Given the anisotropy in plastic properties developed after a first deformation,
even if the kinetics of strain aging were isotropic, the final anisotropy would
still be sizable for a certain aging time.
On the other hand, anisotropy and directionality of the kinetics of strain
aging may induce anisotropy and directionality in one specific aspect of
the mechanical behavior: yield point. Materials cold deformed beyond the
L
uders strain do not display a yield point in any subsequent deformation
direction. When strain aged, the same materials may present a yield point,
depending on direction of straining, aging time, grain size, etc. [11, 12], an
observation that was remarkably modeled on the basis of the dynamics of
polar dislocations [13]. Thus, strain aging may induce a directionality in the
presence of a yield point.

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4. Conclusions

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Anisotropy of mechanical properties in steel products develops during

cold working.
Anisotropy of mechanical properties in steel products is not induced by
strain aging following cold working.
During the course of strain aging, the anisotropy in strain aging kinetics
may lead to a peculiar situation whereby, for a certain range of aging
time, a yield point reappears only for some straining directions.
Due to the general appearance of anisotropy in cold-deformed steel
products, mechanical evaluation of all such products should be careful,
regardless of the presence of ulterior strain aging processes.

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[9] DNV offshore standard OS-F101, Submarine pipeline systems (2010).

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