Microstructure and Properties of a Non-Quenched Prehardened Steel at Different Cooling Rate

2012 ◽  
Vol 524-527 ◽  
pp. 1976-1979
Author(s):  
Yi Luo ◽  
Jin Ming Peng

Mechanical properties of non-quenched prehardened (NQP) steel air cooled and sand cooled after forged were tested and their microstructure was investigated by optical microscopy and transmission electronic microscopy(TEM). The results show that mechanical properties of the NQP steel are similar at both cooling conditions, and their microstructure is bainite, whose fine structure is main bainite ferrite laths, retained austenite films, retained austenite islands and their transformation products. Bainite ferrite laths of the NQP steel air cooled are narrower than that sand cooled, while more retained austenite islands exist in latter.

2014 ◽  
Vol 941-944 ◽  
pp. 314-317
Author(s):  
Guirong Li ◽  
Hong Ming Wang ◽  
Yu Hua Cui ◽  
Yue Ming Li ◽  
Cong Xiang Peng ◽  
...  

Al3Ti and Al3Zr particles reinforced 7055Al composites were processed by cryogenic treatment with different cooling speed at 1°C/min, 3°C/min and 5°C/min. Transmission Electronic Microscopy (TEM) was mainly used to analyze the microstructural evolution of the treated samples. The results show that with the increase of cooling speed the precipitate amount and dislocation density have been increased. The precipitates orientation exhibits some preferred orientation. The mechanical properties test demonstrates that for the samples treated at 5°C/min the tensile strength and elongation has arrived at the utmost.


Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1238
Author(s):  
Jun Han ◽  
Tianliang Fu ◽  
Zhaodong Wang ◽  
Guodong Wang

In this paper, a 300 mm thickness ultra-heavy steel plate was selected as the research object. In addition, special roller quenching equipment and a new testing method were used to measure the quenching temperature curve at different positions of the steel plate. The relationships and corresponding interaction mechanisms between cooling rate, microstructure, and mechanical properties of an ultra-heavy steel plate during roller quenching were investigated. The results indicated that the cooling rate, strength, hardness, and impact energy decreased gradually along the thickness direction of the plate, while the cooling rate, average grain size, and mechanical properties were relatively uniform with little change along the length direction of the plate. The experimental results provide an effective way to further control the microstructure and properties of ultra-heavy steel plates during roller quenching.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1220
Author(s):  
Peter Kirbiš ◽  
Ivan Anžel ◽  
Rebeka Rudolf ◽  
Mihael Brunčko

The tendencies of development within the field of engineering materials show a persistent trend towards the increase of strength and toughness. This pressure is particularly pronounced in the field of steels, since they compete with light alloys and composite materials in many applications. The improvement of steels’ mechanical properties is sought to be achieved with the formation of exceptionally fine microstructures ranging well into the nanoscale, which enable a substantial increase in strength without being detrimental to toughness. The preferred route by which such a structure can be produced is not by applying the external plastic deformation, but by controlling the phase transformation from austenite into ferrite at low temperatures. The formation of bainite in steels at temperatures lower than about 200 °C enables the obtainment of the bulk nanostructured materials purely by heat treatment. This offers the advantages of high productivity, as well as few constraints in regard to the shape and size of the workpiece when compared with other methods for the production of nanostructured metals. The development of novel bainitic steels was based on high Si or high Al alloys. These groups of steels distinguish a very fine microstructure, comprised predominantly of bainitic ferrite plates, and a small fraction of retained austenite, as well as carbides. The very fine structure, within which the thickness of individual bainitic ferrite plates can be as thin as 5 nm, is obtained purely by quenching and natural ageing, without the use of isothermal transformation, which is characteristic for most bainitic steels. By virtue of their fine structure and low retained austenite content, this group of steels can develop a very high hardness of up to 65 HRC, while retaining a considerable level of impact toughness. The mechanical properties were evaluated by hardness measurements, impact testing of notched and unnotched specimens, as well as compression and tensile tests. Additionally, the steels’ microstructures were characterised using light microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The obtained results confirmed that the strong refinement of the microstructural elements in the steels results in a combination of extremely high strength and very good toughness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Bublíková ◽  
Hana Jirková ◽  
Kateřina Rubešová ◽  
Michal Peković ◽  
Julie Volkmannová ◽  
...  

<p class="AMSmaintext"><span lang="EN-GB">Various ways are sought today to increase mechanical properties of steels while maintaining their good strength and ductility. Besides effective alloying strategies, one method involves preserving a certain amount of retained austenite in a martensitic matrix. The steel which was chosen as an experimental material for this investigation contained 2.5% manganese, 2.09% silicon and 1.34% chromium, with additions of nickel and molybdenum. An actual closed-die forged part was made of this steel. This forged part was fitted with thermocouples attached to its surface and placed in its interior and then treated using the Q&amp;P process. Q&amp;P process is characterized by rapid cooling from a soaking temperature to a quenching temperature, which is between the Ms and the Mf, and subsequent reheating to and holding at a partitioning temperature where retained austenite becomes stable. The quenchant was hot water. Cooling took place in a furnace. Heat treatment profiles were constructed from the thermocouple data and the process was then replicated in a thermomechanical simulator. The specimens obtained in this manner were examined using metallographic techniques. The effects of cooling rate on mechanical properties and the amount of retained austenite were assessed. The resultant ultimate strength was around 2100 MPa. Elongation and the amount of retained austenite were 15% and 17%, respectively. Microstructures and mechanical properties of the specimens were then compared to the real-world forged part in order to establish whether physical simulation could be employed for laboratory-based optimization of heat treatment of forgings.</span></p>


2007 ◽  
Vol 534-536 ◽  
pp. 757-760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maciej Sulowski ◽  
Andrzej Cias ◽  
Hanna Frydrych ◽  
Jerzy Frydrych ◽  
Irena Olszewska ◽  
...  

The effect of different cooling rate after sintering Mn steels at 1120°C and 1250°C by adding Cr and Mo was investigated. Pre-alloyed Astaloy CrM and CrL, ferromanganese and graphite powders were used as the starting powders. Pressing was carried out in steel rigid dies to achieve the same density in the range of 6.8-7.2 g/cm3. During pressing rectangular and ISO 2740 specimens were prepared. Then, green compacts were sintered at 1120°C and 1250°C for 60 minutes in atmosphere with different H2/N2 content and cooled at a cooling rate 1.4°C/min (slow, furnace cooling) and 65°C/min (convective cooling). Convecitve cooled specimens were subsequently tempered at 200°C for 60 and 240 minutes. To investigate the mechanical properties: UTS, elongation A, R0.2 yield offset, TRS, impact toughness IT and hardness measurements results were examined. After the mechanical examination, the microstructure of Fe-Mn-Cr-Mo-C PM steels were studied by optical microscopy.


Author(s):  
L.J. Chen ◽  
H.C. Cheng ◽  
J.R. Gong ◽  
J.G. Yang

For fuel savings as well as energy and resource requirement, high strength low alloy steels (HSLA) are of particular interest to automobile industry because of the potential weight reduction which can be achieved by using thinner section of these steels to carry the same load and thus to improve the fuel mileage. Dual phase treatment has been utilized to obtain superior strength and ductility combinations compared to the HSLA of identical composition. Recently, cooling rate following heat treatment was found to be important to the tensile properties of the dual phase steels. In this paper, we report the results of the investigation of cooling rate on the microstructures and mechanical properties of several vanadium HSLA steels.The steels with composition (in weight percent) listed below were supplied by China Steel Corporation: 1. low V steel (0.11C, 0.65Si, 1.63Mn, 0.015P, 0.008S, 0.084Aℓ, 0.004V), 2. 0.059V steel (0.13C, 0.62S1, 1.59Mn, 0.012P, 0.008S, 0.065Aℓ, 0.059V), 3. 0.10V steel (0.11C, 0.58Si, 1.58Mn, 0.017P, 0.008S, 0.068Aℓ, 0.10V).


Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1041
Author(s):  
Eliseo Hernandez-Duran ◽  
Luca Corallo ◽  
Tanya Ros-Yanez ◽  
Felipe Castro-Cerda ◽  
Roumen H. Petrov

This study focuses on the effect of non-conventional annealing strategies on the microstructure and related mechanical properties of austempered steels. Multistep thermo-cycling (TC) and ultrafast heating (UFH) annealing were carried out and compared with the outcome obtained from a conventionally annealed (CA) 0.3C-2Mn-1.5Si steel. After the annealing path, steel samples were fast cooled and isothermally treated at 400 °C employing the same parameters. It was found that TC and UFH strategies produce an equivalent level of microstructural refinement. Nevertheless, the obtained microstructure via TC has not led to an improvement in the mechanical properties in comparison with the CA steel. On the other hand, the steel grade produced via a combination of ultrafast heating annealing and austempering exhibits enhanced ductility without decreasing the strength level with respect to TC and CA, giving the best strength–ductility balance among the studied steels. The outstanding mechanical response exhibited by the UFH steel is related to the formation of heterogeneous distribution of ferrite, bainite and retained austenite in proportions 0.09–0.78–0.14. The microstructural formation after UFH is discussed in terms of chemical heterogeneities in the parent austenite.


2011 ◽  
Vol 189-193 ◽  
pp. 3891-3894
Author(s):  
Ya Min Li ◽  
Hong Jun Liu ◽  
Yuan Hao

The casting Fe3Al intermetallics were solidified in sodium silicate sand mould and permanent mould respectively to get different cooling rates. After heat treatment (1000°С/15 h homogenizing annealing + furnace cooling followed by 600°С/1 h tempering + oil quenching), the microstructure and properties of Fe3Al intermetallics were investigated. The results show that the heat-treated Fe3Al intermetallics at higher cooling rate has finer grained microstructure than lower cooling rate, and the lattice distortion increases due to the higher solid solubility of the elements Cr and B at higher cooling rate. The tensile strength and hardness of the Fe3Al intermetallics at higher cooling rate are slightly higher also. However, the impact power of intermetallics at higher cooling rate is 67.5% higher than that at lower cooling rate, and the impact fracture mode is also transformed from intercrystalline fracture at lower cooling rate to intercrystallin+transcrystalline mixed fracture at higher cooling rate.


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