Hot Deformation Behavior Coordination and Processing Maps of 40Cr/Q345B Bimetallic Blank by Centrifugal Casting

The compact cast-rolling compound forming of bimetallic ring is an efficient process for manufacturing large bimetallic rings. The difference in hot deformation behavior of the two metals directly affects the coordinated deformation of bimetals during hot rolling. In this paper, hot compression tests of 40Cr/Q345B bimetallic blank produced by centrifugal casting were carried out at temperatures of 950–1200 °C and strain rates of 0.005–5 s−1. Based on the comparisons of flow stress behavior, activation energy, and activation volume, hot deformation behavior coordination of 40Cr/Q345B bimetallic blank was investigated. Processing maps were established to study the optimum processing windows for 40Cr/Q345B bimetallic blank. Under the same deformation conditions, 40Cr shows lower overall flow stress than Q345B, which facilitate the coordinated deformation of the bimetallic blank during rolling, and the flow stress difference between 40Cr and Q345B decreases with the increase of temperature. It was connected with the increase in the second phase particles pinning effect for higher MnS content in Q345B. The common rate-controlling mechanism for 40Cr and Q345B is the thermal breaking of attractive junctions and movement of jogged screw dislocations. The bimetallic blanks exhibit good deformation coordination in the optimum processing window (1030–1100 °C and 0.5–1 s−1 with a strain of 0.6).