The microstructures of a SS400 steel after thermomechanical control process（TMCP） in an industrial production were observed by optical microscope,scanning electron microscope（SEM） and transmission electron microsc...The microstructures of a SS400 steel after thermomechanical control process（TMCP） in an industrial production were observed by optical microscope,scanning electron microscope（SEM） and transmission electron microscope（TEM）.The results indicated that the size of ferrite grains was 4-5μm,and transmission of ferrite was around 70%.The types of the ultrafine ferrite grains were analyzed and the strengthening mechanisms were discussed.The results show that the ultrafine ferrite grains came from three processes,i.e.deformation induced ferrite transformation（DIFT）.dynamic recrystallization of ferrite and accelerated cooling process.The increase in the strength of the material was mainly due to the grain refining.展开更多
Hydrogen induced cracking（HIC） behaviors of a high strength pipeline steel with three different microstructures, granular bainite ＆ lath bainite（GB ＋ LB）, granular bainite ＆ acicular ferrite（GB ＋ AF）, and qu...Hydrogen induced cracking（HIC） behaviors of a high strength pipeline steel with three different microstructures, granular bainite ＆ lath bainite（GB ＋ LB）, granular bainite ＆ acicular ferrite（GB ＋ AF）, and quasi-polygonal ferrite（QF）, were studied by using corrosion experiment based on standard NACE TM0284. The HIC experiment was conducted in hydrogen sulfide（H_2S）-saturated solution. The experimental results show that the steel with GB ＋ AF and QF microstructure present excellent corrosion resistance to HIC, whereas the phases of bainite lath and martensite/austenite in LB ＋ GB microstructure are responsible for poor corrosion resistance. Compared with ferrite phase, the bainite microstructure exhibits higher strength and crack susceptibility of HIC. The AF ＋ GB microstructure is believed to have the best combination of mechanical properties and resistance to HIC among the designed steels.展开更多
The static recrystallization （SRX） and precipitation behavior of a weathering steel microalloyed with vanadium were investigated through double-pass compression tests under controfled conditions using the MMS-300 th...The static recrystallization （SRX） and precipitation behavior of a weathering steel microalloyed with vanadium were investigated through double-pass compression tests under controfled conditions using the MMS-300 thermal-mechanical simulator. The deformation temperatures ranged from 800 °C to 1000 °C, and the inter- pass time from 1 s to 500 s. The simulation results showed that SRX occurred after 5-10 s at the first compression deformation. The softening fraction of SRX was found to increase with increasing the deformation temperature and the pre-strain. However, the softening fraction scarcely changed during the process of strain-induced precipitation. In addition, the kinetics of SRX was described by the Avrami equation, and the Avrami exponent appeared to be closely associated with the deformation temperature. The microstructure evolution was investigated at the initiation and completion of recrystallization. The amount and distribution of the precipitates were analyzed. The relationship between the driving force of SRX and the pinning force of precipitation was discussed. Besides, the recrystallization inhibition was detected at the early stage of precipitation, and the pinning forces were found to be of a magnitude comparable to the driving force. Moreover, the pinning forces were found to increase with the degree of precipitation and reach a peak at the intermediate stage of precipitation, and finally reduce as the particles coarsened.展开更多
A low-temperature nanobainitic steel was obtained through one-step and two-step austempering. The effect of austempering temperature, time, and route on bainitic lath width, volume fraction of retained austenite, carb...A low-temperature nanobainitic steel was obtained through one-step and two-step austempering. The effect of austempering temperature, time, and route on bainitic lath width, volume fraction of retained austenite, carbon concen- tration in retained austenite, and nanohardness of bainitic lath and retained austenite was studied. Results showed that the transformation kinetics was slowed down and the bainitic lath was refined as the austempering temperature decreased from 300 to 250 C. Both coarser and finer bainitic laths were obtained with the two-step austempering, which was consistent with the lath size at 300 and 250 C austempering, respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that both volume fraction of retained austenite and its carbon concentration decreased with the decrease of austempering temperature for the one-step austempering, and especially the carbon concentration is obviously increased when the two-step austempering is adopted. The nanohardness of the bainitic lath in the sample after two-step austempering treated lies between that of the samples after 300 and 250 C austempering treated. The product of tensile strength and total elongation of the two-step austempered sample is the highest, which increases monotonously with the product of retained austenite fraction and its carbon concentration. Higher strengthluctility balance may be resulted by the fine bainitic lath, high volume fraction, and high stability of retained austenite in the sample after two-step austempered.展开更多
Microstructure consisting of ferrite, bainite and retained austenite can be obtained through intercritical annealing and isothermal treatment in bainite transformation region for low silicon TRIP （transformation indu...Microstructure consisting of ferrite, bainite and retained austenite can be obtained through intercritical annealing and isothermal treatment in bainite transformation region for low silicon TRIP （transformation induced plasticity） steel containing niobium. Effects of strain rate, Nb content and soaking temperature in bainite region on microstructure and mechanical properties of test steels were investigated. It is shown that as strain rate ranges from 10^-2 to 10^-4 s^-1, the volume fraction of transformed martensite from retained austenite, as well as tensile strength, elongation rate and strength-ductility product, increases. When Nb is added, the volume fraction of retained austenite decreases, but tensile strength and yield strength increase. While Nb content reaches 0.014%, the steel exhibits high elongation and combination of strength and ductility. Higher retained austenite volume fraction and good mechanical properties are obtained in the test steels when the soaking temperature in bainite region is 400℃. The maximum values of tensile strength, total elongation rate and strength-ductility product can reach 739 MPa, 38% and 28082 MPa%, respectively.展开更多
In this study,two API X80 pipeline steels were fabricated by varying Ti additions,and their microstructures and fracture characteristics were analyzed to investigate the effects of Ti-enriched carbonitride on the tens...In this study,two API X80 pipeline steels were fabricated by varying Ti additions,and their microstructures and fracture characteristics were analyzed to investigate the effects of Ti-enriched carbonitride on the tensile properties and Charpy impact properties.Lathy bainite,a mass of matensite/austenite(M/A),coarse cubic Ti-enriched inclusions,chain-typed Ti-enriched precipitations,weak toughness and high tensile strength were found as consequences of higher amount of Ti content.Those large scale and chain-typed Ti-enriched carbonitrides are one kind of crack sources during fracture.The negative effect of higher amount of Ti on the impact properties is increased with decreased temperature.展开更多
Thermomechanical process and tempering heat treatment were employed to produce the experimental steel plates. The effect of boron addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of low carbon bainitic steels ...Thermomechanical process and tempering heat treatment were employed to produce the experimental steel plates. The effect of boron addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of low carbon bainitic steels was studied in this paper. Microstructure observation and crystallographic features were conducted by using optical microscopy, SEM, TEM and electron back scattering diffraction （EBSD） analysis. The results showed that under the same rolling processes and heat treatment conditions, a substantial increase in strength is obtained by addition of boron into steel, but accompanied by an obvious drop in toughness. New martensite phase forms along the grain boundaries on tempering at 650℃ mainly due to boron segregation, which can further deteriorate impact toughness of the boron bearing steel. The EBSD analysis showed that high angle grain boundary, is not responsible for the deteriorated toughness of the boron bearing steel because it has relatively higher percentage of high angle grain boundary than the boron free steel. The low toughness of the boron bearing steel is mainly attributed to the coarse boride precipitated particles according to the results of fractograph observation.展开更多
Microstructural characteristics of different sub-regions of heat affected zone （HAZ） of low welding crack susceptibility steel weldment were investigated by using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy ...Microstructural characteristics of different sub-regions of heat affected zone （HAZ） of low welding crack susceptibility steel weldment were investigated by using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy equipped with electron backscattered diffraction system. And the focus was put on the correlation between microstructural characteristics and HAZ toughness of the weldment. The results reveal that the toughness of fusion line zone （FLZ） specimens is much lower than that of fine grained HAZ （FGHAZ） specimens. The coarse inclusions in the weld metal and the large martensite-austenite constituents in the coarse grained HAZ （CGHAZ） have an obvious negative effect on the crack initiation energy of FLZ. Meanwhile, the coarse granular bainite with large effective grain decreases the crack propagation energy seriously. By contrast, fine crystallographic grains in the FGHAZ play a key role in increasing toughness, especially in improving crack propagation energy.展开更多
There exist strong interests of developing nano-grained steels because of the outstanding properties including high strength/weight ratio, wear resistance, excellent toughness, and favorable cellular activity. This ar...There exist strong interests of developing nano-grained steels because of the outstanding properties including high strength/weight ratio, wear resistance, excellent toughness, and favorable cellular activity. This article reviews the main fabrication process and microstructural control of nano-structured steels over the last decades. Severe plastic deformation is considered as an effective route of obtaining the nano-grained microstructures. The process of cold-rolling and annealing of martensitic steel is a viable method to obtain bulk nano-structured low carbon steel, while the final thickness of the cold-rolling plate is limited. According to the theoretical results of the thermal simulation studies, a novel alloy design combined with the rapid transformation and rolling process is proposed to successfully fabricate nano-grained high strength bulk steel. The refinement mechanisms are expected to be taking advantage of increase in the transformation nucleation sites and inhibiting the grain coarsening. Moreover, corresponding mechanical properties are summarized.展开更多
基金This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shanghai Bao Steel （No. 50271015）.
文摘The microstructures of a SS400 steel after thermomechanical control process（TMCP） in an industrial production were observed by optical microscope,scanning electron microscope（SEM） and transmission electron microscope（TEM）.The results indicated that the size of ferrite grains was 4-5μm,and transmission of ferrite was around 70%.The types of the ultrafine ferrite grains were analyzed and the strengthening mechanisms were discussed.The results show that the ultrafine ferrite grains came from three processes,i.e.deformation induced ferrite transformation（DIFT）.dynamic recrystallization of ferrite and accelerated cooling process.The increase in the strength of the material was mainly due to the grain refining.
基金supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2015AA03A501)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51274063)
文摘Hydrogen induced cracking（HIC） behaviors of a high strength pipeline steel with three different microstructures, granular bainite ＆ lath bainite（GB ＋ LB）, granular bainite ＆ acicular ferrite（GB ＋ AF）, and quasi-polygonal ferrite（QF）, were studied by using corrosion experiment based on standard NACE TM0284. The HIC experiment was conducted in hydrogen sulfide（H_2S）-saturated solution. The experimental results show that the steel with GB ＋ AF and QF microstructure present excellent corrosion resistance to HIC, whereas the phases of bainite lath and martensite/austenite in LB ＋ GB microstructure are responsible for poor corrosion resistance. Compared with ferrite phase, the bainite microstructure exhibits higher strength and crack susceptibility of HIC. The AF ＋ GB microstructure is believed to have the best combination of mechanical properties and resistance to HIC among the designed steels.
基金supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51204050 and 51034009)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.N110407005)the Doctor Startup Foundation of Liaoning Province(No.201120007)
文摘The static recrystallization （SRX） and precipitation behavior of a weathering steel microalloyed with vanadium were investigated through double-pass compression tests under controfled conditions using the MMS-300 thermal-mechanical simulator. The deformation temperatures ranged from 800 °C to 1000 °C, and the inter- pass time from 1 s to 500 s. The simulation results showed that SRX occurred after 5-10 s at the first compression deformation. The softening fraction of SRX was found to increase with increasing the deformation temperature and the pre-strain. However, the softening fraction scarcely changed during the process of strain-induced precipitation. In addition, the kinetics of SRX was described by the Avrami equation, and the Avrami exponent appeared to be closely associated with the deformation temperature. The microstructure evolution was investigated at the initiation and completion of recrystallization. The amount and distribution of the precipitates were analyzed. The relationship between the driving force of SRX and the pinning force of precipitation was discussed. Besides, the recrystallization inhibition was detected at the early stage of precipitation, and the pinning forces were found to be of a magnitude comparable to the driving force. Moreover, the pinning forces were found to increase with the degree of precipitation and reach a peak at the intermediate stage of precipitation, and finally reduce as the particles coarsened.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China(Nos.51101033 and 51204049)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.N110407002)
文摘A low-temperature nanobainitic steel was obtained through one-step and two-step austempering. The effect of austempering temperature, time, and route on bainitic lath width, volume fraction of retained austenite, carbon concen- tration in retained austenite, and nanohardness of bainitic lath and retained austenite was studied. Results showed that the transformation kinetics was slowed down and the bainitic lath was refined as the austempering temperature decreased from 300 to 250 C. Both coarser and finer bainitic laths were obtained with the two-step austempering, which was consistent with the lath size at 300 and 250 C austempering, respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that both volume fraction of retained austenite and its carbon concentration decreased with the decrease of austempering temperature for the one-step austempering, and especially the carbon concentration is obviously increased when the two-step austempering is adopted. The nanohardness of the bainitic lath in the sample after two-step austempering treated lies between that of the samples after 300 and 250 C austempering treated. The product of tensile strength and total elongation of the two-step austempered sample is the highest, which increases monotonously with the product of retained austenite fraction and its carbon concentration. Higher strengthluctility balance may be resulted by the fine bainitic lath, high volume fraction, and high stability of retained austenite in the sample after two-step austempered.
基金This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.50527402).
文摘Microstructure consisting of ferrite, bainite and retained austenite can be obtained through intercritical annealing and isothermal treatment in bainite transformation region for low silicon TRIP （transformation induced plasticity） steel containing niobium. Effects of strain rate, Nb content and soaking temperature in bainite region on microstructure and mechanical properties of test steels were investigated. It is shown that as strain rate ranges from 10^-2 to 10^-4 s^-1, the volume fraction of transformed martensite from retained austenite, as well as tensile strength, elongation rate and strength-ductility product, increases. When Nb is added, the volume fraction of retained austenite decreases, but tensile strength and yield strength increase. While Nb content reaches 0.014%, the steel exhibits high elongation and combination of strength and ductility. Higher retained austenite volume fraction and good mechanical properties are obtained in the test steels when the soaking temperature in bainite region is 400℃. The maximum values of tensile strength, total elongation rate and strength-ductility product can reach 739 MPa, 38% and 28082 MPa%, respectively.
基金the financial supports from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.N090607002)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51074052)
文摘In this study,two API X80 pipeline steels were fabricated by varying Ti additions,and their microstructures and fracture characteristics were analyzed to investigate the effects of Ti-enriched carbonitride on the tensile properties and Charpy impact properties.Lathy bainite,a mass of matensite/austenite(M/A),coarse cubic Ti-enriched inclusions,chain-typed Ti-enriched precipitations,weak toughness and high tensile strength were found as consequences of higher amount of Ti content.Those large scale and chain-typed Ti-enriched carbonitrides are one kind of crack sources during fracture.The negative effect of higher amount of Ti on the impact properties is increased with decreased temperature.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51074052)the Fundamental Research Funds of the Central Universities (No.N100607001)
文摘Thermomechanical process and tempering heat treatment were employed to produce the experimental steel plates. The effect of boron addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of low carbon bainitic steels was studied in this paper. Microstructure observation and crystallographic features were conducted by using optical microscopy, SEM, TEM and electron back scattering diffraction （EBSD） analysis. The results showed that under the same rolling processes and heat treatment conditions, a substantial increase in strength is obtained by addition of boron into steel, but accompanied by an obvious drop in toughness. New martensite phase forms along the grain boundaries on tempering at 650℃ mainly due to boron segregation, which can further deteriorate impact toughness of the boron bearing steel. The EBSD analysis showed that high angle grain boundary, is not responsible for the deteriorated toughness of the boron bearing steel because it has relatively higher percentage of high angle grain boundary than the boron free steel. The low toughness of the boron bearing steel is mainly attributed to the coarse boride precipitated particles according to the results of fractograph observation.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51074052)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No. N100607001)
文摘Microstructural characteristics of different sub-regions of heat affected zone （HAZ） of low welding crack susceptibility steel weldment were investigated by using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy equipped with electron backscattered diffraction system. And the focus was put on the correlation between microstructural characteristics and HAZ toughness of the weldment. The results reveal that the toughness of fusion line zone （FLZ） specimens is much lower than that of fine grained HAZ （FGHAZ） specimens. The coarse inclusions in the weld metal and the large martensite-austenite constituents in the coarse grained HAZ （CGHAZ） have an obvious negative effect on the crack initiation energy of FLZ. Meanwhile, the coarse granular bainite with large effective grain decreases the crack propagation energy seriously. By contrast, fine crystallographic grains in the FGHAZ play a key role in increasing toughness, especially in improving crack propagation energy.
文摘There exist strong interests of developing nano-grained steels because of the outstanding properties including high strength/weight ratio, wear resistance, excellent toughness, and favorable cellular activity. This article reviews the main fabrication process and microstructural control of nano-structured steels over the last decades. Severe plastic deformation is considered as an effective route of obtaining the nano-grained microstructures. The process of cold-rolling and annealing of martensitic steel is a viable method to obtain bulk nano-structured low carbon steel, while the final thickness of the cold-rolling plate is limited. According to the theoretical results of the thermal simulation studies, a novel alloy design combined with the rapid transformation and rolling process is proposed to successfully fabricate nano-grained high strength bulk steel. The refinement mechanisms are expected to be taking advantage of increase in the transformation nucleation sites and inhibiting the grain coarsening. Moreover, corresponding mechanical properties are summarized.
