The structure–property relationship was studied in an Fe-18Mn-0.6C-1.5Al steel subjected to cold rolling to various total reductions from 20% to 80% and subsequent annealing for 30 min at temperatures of 673 to 973 K. The cold rolling resulted in significant strengthening of the steel. The hardness increased from 1900 to almost 6000 MPa after rolling reduction of 80%. Recovery of cold worked microstructure developed during annealing at temperatures of 673 and 773 K, resulting in slight softening, which did not exceed 0.2. On the other hand, static recrystallization readily developed in the cold rolled samples with total reductions above 20% during annealing at 873 and 973 K, leading to fractional softening of about 0.8. The recrystallized grain size depended on annealing temperature and rolling reduction; namely, it decreased with a decrease in the temperature and an increase in the rolling reduction. The mean recrystallized grain size from approximately 1 to 8 μm could be developed depending on the rolling/annealing conditions. The recovered and fine grained recrystallized steel samples were characterized by improved strength properties. The yield strength of the recovered, recrystallized, and partially recrystallized steel samples could be expressed by a unique relationship taking into account the fractional contributions from dislocation and grain size strengthening into overall strength.

An approach was proposed to optimize dissimilar friction stir lap welding of aluminum and titanium alloys. The basic concept of the new technique included (i) the plunging of the welding tool solely into the aluminum part (i.e., no direct contact with the titanium side) and (ii) the welding at a relatively high-heat input condition. It was shown that sound welds could be readily produced using an ordinary cost-effective tool, with no tool abrasion and no dispersion of harmful titanium fragments within the aluminum side. Moreover, the intermetallic layer was found to be as narrow as ~0.1 µm, thus giving rise to excellent bond strength between aluminum and titanium. On the other hand, several important shortcomings were also revealed. First of all, the high-heat input condition provided significant microstructural changes in the aluminum part, thereby resulting in essential material softening. Furthermore, the new approach was not feasible in the case of highly alloyed aluminum alloys due to the relatively low rate of self-diffusion in these materials. An essential issue was also a comparatively narrow processing window.