Stress-strain curves of the EN AW 6082 aluminium alloy with 1.2 Si-0.51 Mg-0.75 Mn (wt.%) were determined by the uniaxial compression tests at temperatures of 450–550 °C with a strain rate of 0.5–10 s⁻¹. The initial structure state corresponded to three processing types: as-cast structure non-homogenized or homogenized at 500 °C, and the structure after homogenization and hot extrusion. Significantly higher flow stress appeared as a result of low temperature forming of the non-homogenized material. Hot deformation activation energy Q-values varied between 99 and 122 kJ·mol⁻¹ for both homogenized materials and from 200 to 216 kJ·mol⁻¹ for the as-cast state, while the Q-values calculated from the measured steady-state stress were always higher than those calculated from the peak stress values. For the extruded state of the 6082 alloy, the physically-based model was developed to reliably predict the flow stress influenced by dynamic softening, temperature, strain rate, and true strain up to 0.6.

Based on dilatometric tests, the effect of various values of previous deformation on the kinetics of austenite transformations during the cooling of 100Cr6 steel has been studied. Dilatometric tests have been performed with the use of the optical dilatometric module of the plastometer Gleeble 3800. The obtained results were compared to metallographic analyses and hardness measurements HV30. Uniaxial compression deformations were chosen as follows: 0, 0.35, and 1; note that these are true (logarithmic) deformations. The highly important finding was the absence of bainite. In addition, it has been verified that with the increasing amount of deformation, there is a further shift in the pearlitic region to higher cooling rates. The previous deformation also affected the temperature martensite start, which decreased due to deformation. The deformation value of 1 also shifted the critical cooling rate required for martensite formation from the 12 °C/s to 25 °C/s.

In the presented research, conventional hot processing maps superimposed over the flow stress maps or activation energy maps are utilized to study a correlation among the efficiency of power dissipation, flow stress, and activation energy evolution in the case of Cr-Mo low-alloyed steel. All maps have been assembled on the basis of two flow curve datasets. The experimental one is the result of series of uniaxial hot compression tests. The predicted one has been calculated on the basis of the subsequent approximation procedure via a well-adapted artificial neural network. It was found that both flow stress and activation energy evolution are capable of expressing changes in the studied steel caused by the hot compression deformation. A direct association with the course of power dissipation efficiency is then evident in the case of both. The connection of the presence of instability districts to the activation energy evolution, flow stress course, and power dissipation efficiency was discussed further. Based on the obtained findings it can be stated that the activation energy processing maps represent another tool for the finding of appropriate forming conditions and can be utilized as a support feature for the conventionally-used processing maps to extend their informative ability.

The nil-strength temperature, zero strength temperature and solidus temperature are significant parameters with respect to the processes of melting, casting and welding steels. With the use of physical tests performed on the universal plastometer Gleeble 3800 and calculations in the IDS software, the nil-strength temperatures, zero strength temperatures and solidus temperatures of nine non-alloy carbon steels have been determined. Apart from that, solidus temperatures were also calculated by the use of four equations expressing a mathematical relation of this temperature to the chemical composition of the investigated steels. The nil-strength and zero strength temperatures and the solidus temperatures decreased with increasing carbon content in the investigated steels. Much higher content of sulfur in free-cutting steel resulted in a decrease of all the temperatures investigated. The zero strength temperatures determined by calculation in the IDS software during solidification were approximately 43–85 °C higher than the nil-strength temperatures determined experimentally during heating of the investigated steels. The linear dependence of experimentally measured nil-strength temperature on the calculated zero strength temperature for the investigated steels was determined. Based on regression analyses, there were determined mathematical relations which described with high accuracy a linear dependence of the nil-strength and zero strength temperatures on the solidus temperature of the investigated steels.