Effect of High Temperature Deformation on the Hot Ductility of Nb Microalloyed Steel

Low hot ductility of steel at the straightening stage of the continuous casting process is a problem found in steels containing microalloying and/or certain alloying additions. The thermal schedule undergone by the billet surface in the mill has a significant effect on the hot ductility. In this work, thermomechanical processing was employed to alleviate the problem of hot ductility in the Nb-microalloyed steel. Specimens were melted in situ and subjected to the billet surface thermal schedule in order to generate a microstructure similar to that present at the straightening stage of the continuous casting process. Some deformation schedules were incorporated with the thermal schedule at very high temperatures, specifically during solidification, within the d-ferrite region, and during the d®g transformation, and the hot ductility was subsequently evaluated at the end of the thermal schedule where the straightening operation is performed. After the thermal schedule alone, the steel exhibited a very low hot ductility at the straightening stage. It was found that deformation at very high temperatures prior to the straightening stage had a considerable effect on the hot ductility, either detrimental or beneficial, depending on the region in which the deformation has been executed. The mechanisms leading to loss and improvement of hot ductility are explained in this paper.