Precipitation Behavior During Thin Slab Thermomechanical Processing and Isothermal Aging of Copper-bearing Niobium-Microalloyed High Strength Structural Steels: The Effect on Mechanical Properties (original) (raw)
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Materials Science and Engineering: A, 2006
We describe here the relationship between microstructure and impact toughness behavior as a function of cooling rate for industrially processed Nb-and V-microalloyed steels of almost similar yield strength (∼60 ksi). Both Nb-and V-microalloyed steels exhibited increase in toughness with increase in cooling rates during processing. However, Nb-microalloyed steels were characterized by relatively higher toughness than the V-microalloyed steels under identical processing conditions. The microstructure of Nb-and V-microalloyed steels processed at conventional cooling rate, primarily consisted of polygonal ferrite-pearlite microconstituents, while Nb-microalloyed steels besides polygonal ferrite and pearlite contained significant fraction of degenerated pearlite. The microstructure of Nb-and V-microalloyed steels processed at relatively higher cooling rate contained degenerated pearlite and lath-type (acicular) ferrite in addition to the primary ferrite-pearlite constituents. The fraction of degenerated pearlite was higher in Nb-microalloyed steels than in the V-microalloyed steels. In both Nb-and V-microalloyed steels the precipitation characteristics were similar with precipitation occurring at grain boundaries, dislocations, and in the ferrite matrix. Fine-scale (∼5-10 nm) precipitation was observed in the ferrite matrix of both the steels. The selected area diffraction (SAD) pattern analysis revealed that these fine precipitates were MC type of niobium and vanadium carbides in the respective steels and followed Baker-Nutting orientation relationship with the ferrite matrix. The microstructural studies suggest that the increase in toughness of Nb-microalloyed steels is attributed to higher fraction of degenerated pearlite in the steel.
Ironmaking & Steelmaking, 2004
The effect of thermomechanical controlled processing (TMCP) on structural refinement and enhancement of properties of a low carbon Cu-B high strength low alloy steel has been investigated. Thermomechanical processing was carried out according to various schedules. A few hot rolled bars were solution treated, quenched and aged at 600uC to study the effect of precipitation of copper. From the study of microstructures by optical metallography and TEM, it has been found that a significant improvement of properties can be attained through a proper selection of TMCP schedule. Precipitation of copper and alloy carbides and dislocation pinning by these precipitates appear to be the principal strengthening mechanisms. Using a lower finish rolling temperature in the TMCP schedule, the precipitation of copper is increased and hence the aging response of the steel becomes poorer. Furthermore, the addition of boron to copper bearing high strength low alloy steels delays the precipitation of copper during post TMCP aging. A higher aging temperature of 600uC of the thermomechanically processed alloys improves the subambient impact strength.
Two high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels containing Nb-carbonitrides were produced, one contained Mo and the other was Mo-free. The alloys were produced by simulated direct strip casting, and were fully bainitic in the as-cast condition. Isothermal ageing treatments were carried out to precipitate harden the alloy, and the strength was measured using a shear punch test. The dislocation density was measured with X-ray diffraction (XRD), and was found to be larger in the alloy containing Mo in all ageing conditions. Atom probe tomography (APT) showed the presence of solute clusters in the as-cast condition, and the addition of Mo increased both size and volume fraction of these clusters. The solute clusters provided significant strengthening increments of up to 112 MPa, and cluster strengthening was larger in the Mo-containing alloy. Precipitation of Nb-carbonitrides was observed after longer ageing times, which were refined by the addition of Mo. This was attributed to the higher dislocation density that increased the number of nucleation sites. Precipitate chemistry was similar for both alloys, and contrary to some literature reports, minimal Mo was observed to segregate to the precipitates. A thermodynamic rationale is presented which describes the reasons that Mo segregates to the Nb-carbide in some alloys but not in others, despite the alloy chemistries being relatively similar. (N. Stanford).
Materials Science and Engineering: A, 2010
Based on the observations of scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, four kinds of carbides were identified in a Nb-microalloyed steel after quenching–partitioning–tempering treatment. In addition to transitional epsilon carbide that usually forms in silicon-free carbon steel, other three types of niobium carbides (NbC) formed at various treatment stages respectively. They are incoherent NbC inclusion that nucleated at solidification mainly, fine NbC that nucleated in lath martensite at tempering stage and regular polygonal NbC that nucleated in austenite before quenching. Their formation mechanisms on steel were discussed briefly based on thermodynamics.
Materials Research
The HSLA (High-Strength Low Alloy) steels are used in the production of pipes, flanges and connectors to build ducts for ore, oil and gas transport. The conventional processes are the rolling or forging. In the transport of ore and heavy oil, the abrasive particles impair the surfaces and reduce the pipelines lifetime. Therefore, besides the mechanical properties as API 5L, it is important to verify the wear resistance of these steels. In this context, two microalloyed steels were forged in the form of square bars. Thereafter, specimens of these bars were annealed at 930 ºC, quenched at 900 ºC and tempered at 600 ºC. Tensile and wear tests were performed. The results show that molybdenum and niobium present similar effects on phase transformation of steels, promoting a desired acicular ferrite/bainite microstructure and fulfill the mechanical strength of API 5L-X70 standard. The molybdenum has dominating effect in the hardenability when in solid solution, however, after tempering, thermodynamic simulation by FactSage software indicates that niobium probably promotes secondary hardening.
Acta Materialia, 2015
The thermomechanical processing of high strength low allow (HSLA) steels during low-temperature roughing, followed by rapid reheating to higher temperatures was investigated to better understand the Nb dissolution kinetics in austenite, and the subsequent precipitation behaviour during the final finishing passes. For comparative purposes, two experimental 0.06 wt% C steels were studied, one containing 0.03 wt% Nb (Nb steel), and the second containing both 0.03 wt% Nb and 0.02 wt% Ti (Nb-Ti steel). Processing of these steels consisted of a simulated roughing schedule, with the final roughing pass taking place at 850°C. The strain-induced precipitation intensity in the steels subsequently quenched where characterised using transmission electron microscopy. Following this, the steels were rapidly reheated at a rate of 10°C/s to a temperature of 1200°C, held at temperature for various times, and water quenched to room temperature so that both the precipitate dissolution kinetics, together with the austenite grain coarsening kinetics could be established.
Metals
Low carbon microalloyed steels show interesting commercial possibilities by combining different "micro"-alloying elements when high strength and low temperature toughness properties are required. Depending on the elements chosen for the chemistry design, the mechanisms controlling the strengths and toughness may differ. In this paper, a detailed characterization of the microstructural features of three different microalloyed steels, Nb, Nb-Mo and Ti-Mo, is described using mainly the electron backscattered diffraction technique (EBSD) as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The contribution of different strengthening mechanisms to yield strength and impact toughness is evaluated, and its relative weight is computed for different coiling temperatures. Grain refinement is shown to be the most effective mechanism for controlling both mechanical properties. As yield strength increases, the relative contribution of precipitation strengthening increases, and this factor is especially important in the Ti-Mo microalloyed steel where different combinations of interphase and random precipitation are detected depending on the coiling temperature. In addition to average grain size values, microstructural heterogeneity is considered in order to propose a new equation for predicting ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT). This equation considers the wide range of microstructures analyzed as well as the increase in the transition temperature related to precipitation strengthening. Metals 2017, 7, 65 2 of 18 transformation products [3,4]. These strategies pursue finer final microstructures, which would result in better combinations of strength and toughness. On the other hand, steels microalloyed with Ti and Mo have an interesting combination of high strength and good formability because of the wide dispersion of nanometric sized titanium carbides within a fine matrix [5].
Materials Science and Engineering: A, 2014
ABSTRACT We describe here the influence of coiling temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties, especially toughness, in a low carbon niobium microalloyed steel processed via thin slab casting. The objective is to elucidate the impact of coiling temperature on the nature and distribution of microstructural constituents (including different phases, precipitates, and dislocations) that contribute to variation in the strength–toughness relationship of these steels. In general, the microstructure primarily consisted of fine lath-type bainite and polygonal ferrite, and NbC, TiC and (Nb, Ti)C precipitates of size ~2–10 nm in the matrix and at dislocations. However, the dominance of bainite and distribution of precipitates was a function of coiling temperature. The lower coiling temperature provided superior strength–toughness combination and is attributed to predominantly bainitic microstructure and uniform precipitation of NbC, TiC, and (Nb, Ti)C during the coiling process, consistent with continuous cooling transformation diagrams.
Materials Science Forum
Three novel low carbon microalloyed steels with various additions of Mo, Nb and V were investigated after thermomechanical processing simulations designed to obtain ferrite-bainite microstructure. With the increase in microalloying element additions from the High V- to NbV- to MoNbV-microalloyed steel, the high temperature flow stresses increased. The MoNbV and NbV steels have shown a slightly higher non-recrystallization temperature (1000 °C) than the High V steel (975 °C) due to the solute drag from Nb and Mo atoms and austenite precipitation of Nb-rich particles. The ambient temperature microstructures of all steels consisted predominantly of polygonal ferrite with a small amount of granular bainite. Precipitation of Nb-and Mo-containing carbonitrides (>20 nm size) was observed in the MoNbV and NbV steels, whereas only coarser (~40 nm) iron carbides were present in the High V steel. Finer grain size and larger granular bainite fraction resulted in a higher hardness of MoNbV st...