摘要
Thermomechanical cyclic quenching and tempering(TMCT)can strengthen steels through a grain size reduction mechanism.The effect of TMCT on microstructure,mechanical,and electrochemical properties of AISI 1345 steel was investigated.Steel samples heated to 1050℃,rolled,quenched to room temperature,and subjected to various cyclic quenching and tempering heat treatments were named TMCT-1,TMCT-2,and TMCT-3 samples,respectively.Microstructure analysis revealed that microstructures of all the treated samples contained packets and blocks of well-refined lath-shaped martensite and retained austenite phases with varying grain sizes(2.8–7.9μm).Among all the tested samples,TMCT-3 sample offered an optimum combination of properties by showing an improvement of 40%in tensile strength and reduced 34%elongation compared with the non-treated sample.Nanoindentation results were in good agreement with mechanical tests as the TMCT-3 sample exhibited a 51%improvement in indentation hardness with almost identical reduced elastic modulus compared with the non-treated sample.The electrochemical properties were analyzed in 0.1 M NaHCO_(3) solution by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.As a result of TMCT,the minimum corrosion rate was 0.272 mm/a,which was twenty times less than that of the nontreated sample.The impedance results showed the barrier film mechanism,which was confirmed by the polarization results as the current density decreased.
