Effect of V and V-N Microalloying on Deformation-Induced Ferrite Transformation in Low Carbon Steels

Deformation-induced ferrite transformation （DIFT） has been proved to be an effective approach to refine ferrite grains. This paper shows that the ferrite grains can further be refined through combination of DIFT and V or V-N microalloying. Vanadium dissolved in γ matrix restrains DIFT. During deformation, vanadium carbonitrides rapidly precipitate due to strain-induced precipitation, which causes decrease in vanadium dissolved in matrix and indirectly accelerates DIFT. Under heavy deformation, deformation induced ferrite （DIF） grains in V microalloyed steel were finer than those in V free steel. The more V added to steel, the finer DIF grains obtained. Moreover, the addition of N to V microalloyed steels can remarkably accelerate precipitation of V, and then promote DIFT. However, DIF grains in V-N microalloyed steel easily coarsen.

相变热模拟工艺对钒氮钢γ→α转变的影响

研究相变热模拟工艺对微合金钒氮钢显微组织和晶内铁素体形成的影响。对含氮量不同的两种V-N 钢进行了模拟,用光镜和电镜观察和比较了钢中的显徼组织转变特点。结果表明,随等温温度的降低及等温时间的延长,铁素体的转变量增加;增加钢中的氮含量,有利于铁素体生成,细化晶粒。

Precipitation Behavior of V-N Microalloyed Steels during Normalizing

The precipitation behavior of V-N microalloyed steel during normalizing process was studied by physicochemical phase analysis and transmission electron microscopy（TEM）. The effect of precipitation behavior on mechanical properties was investigated by theoretical calculations. The results showed that 32.9% of V（C,N） precipitates remained undissolved in the austenite during the soaking step of the normalizing process. These precipitates prevented the growth of the austenite grains. During the subsequent cooling process, the dissolved V（C,N） re-precipitated and played a role in precipitation strengthening. The undissolved V（C,N） induced intragranular ferrite nucleation and refined the ferrite grains. Consequently, compared with hot-rolled steel, the normalized steel exhibited increased grain-refining strengthening but diminished precipitation strengthening, leading to an improvement of the impact energy at the expense of about 40 MPa yield strength.

Structure-property relationships in heat-affected zone of gas-shielded arc-welded V-N microalloyed steel

The structure-property relationship in heat-affected zone (HAZ)of a low-carbon steel bearing V-N subjected to gasshielded arc welding was explored.The microstructural characteristics of base metal (BM),coarse-grained HAZ (CGHAZ),fine-grained HAZ,and intercritical HAZ were significantly different.The effect of grain-refinement strengthening and transformation hardening on HAZ contributed to equivalent hardness of 260.8-278.5 HV in comparison with BM hardness of 272.0 HV.Moreover,excellent impact toughness at -20 ℃ was obtained because of high resistance to crack propagation by high-misorientation boundaries,leading to impact fracture consisting of dimples.In CGHAZ,free N was partly fixed by V(C,N)precipitates,such that the deterioration effect of N on toughness was considered to be nearly eliminated.In comparison with CGHAZ,weld metal contained higher fraction of acicular ferrite with fine plates,while the impact toughness was inferior because of the detrimental influence of coarse inclusions from the welding wire.The nanoscale V(C,N)precipitates in CGHAZ had weak effect on toughness because of small size.

Comprehensive Control on Microstructures and Properties of Medium Carbon V-N Microalloyed Steel Seamless Oil-Well Tubes of Hot-Rolling Non-Quenched/Tempered

The relationship between microstructures and mechanical properties of a medium carbon V-N microalloyed steel used for N80 seamless oil-well tubes of hot rolling non-quenched/tempered (non-Q and T) was investigated.The results have shown that volume percentages of upper bainite,modified bainite and ferrite have a decisive influence on impact energies of steel tubes.When the total volume percentage of bainite is larger than 5%,the impact energy of tubes can not satisfy with the industrial criteria.Moreover,if the total volume percentage of bainite is smaller than 5%,then the impact energy of steel tubes enhances with volume percentage of ferrite increasing.The final microstructures have closely relation with tube billet quality,controlled cooling temperature after tube rolling and cooling method after stretch-reduction-diameter.High quality of medium carbon V-N microalloyed steel for non-Q and T oil-well tubes can be produced through comprehensive control of microstructures and mechanical properties in sub-procedures,especially for tube billet quality and controlled cooling parameters.

Study on Microstructure Refinement of Vanadium and Nitrogen Microalloyed Low Carbon Bainitic Steel

The effect of relaxation treatment after finish rolling on microstructure and mechanical properties has been investigated for a vanadium and nitrogen microalloyed low carbon bainitic steel.Finer lath bainite microstructure can be obtained in the plate with relaxation.The results of quantitative statistics show that in the plate without relaxation,80% of the total bainite lath bundles are in the range 5-15μm in length and 3-13μm in width,while in the plate with relaxation 80% of the total bundles are in the range 3-9μm in length and 1-7μm in width.The mechanical properties show that the plate with relaxation has higher impact energy,yield strength and hardness than the plate without relaxation,also the comprehensive performance after tempered at 650℃ is superior to the plate without relaxation.

Hydrogen trapping and electrochemical corrosion behavior of V–N microalloyed X80 pipeline steels consisting of acicular ferrite and polygonal ferrite

Hydrogen trapping behavior of V–N microalloyed X80 pipeline steels was studied by means of hydrogen permeation and hydrogen induced cracking(HIC)tests.In addition,the electrochemical performance of the steels in 3.5 wt.%NaCl solution was investigated.Results indicated that the microstructure of experimental steels mainly consisted of acicular ferrite and polygonal ferrite(PF).When the fraction of PF was 9.1%and 30.4%,hydrogen effective diffusion coefficient was 1.624×10^(−6) and 3.121×10^(−6) cm^(2)/s,respectively.The pipeline steels were not susceptible to HIC.Numerous potential hydrogen traps distributed in homogeneous dispersion were conducive to high HIC resistance.With increasing the fraction of PF from 9.1%to 30.4%,the corrosion current density increased from 5.39×10^(−6) to 9.49×10^(−6) A cm^(−2),the corrosion potential decreased from−0.48 to−0.57 V,and the charge transfer resistance decreased from 2301 to 2068Ωcm^(2),respectively.Increased fraction of PF was disadvantageous for corrosion resistance because of galvanic corrosion.

Effect of increased nitrogen content on continuous cooling transition of γ→α in hot-deformed low-C Mo-V-Ti steels

The two-stage controlled rolling and cooling at 0.5-50℃/s of low-carbon Mo-V-Ti steels with the increasing nitrogen content from 0.0032 to 0.0081 and 0.0123 wt.% were simulated through a Gleeble 3500 system. The continuous cooling transition (CCT) of γ→α in each steel was estimated via microstructure characterization and CCT diagram. The results indicated that CCT diagram for each steel was divided into three regions of γ→ferrite,γ→pearlite and γ→ bainite, and the increasing N content elevated all the starting temperatures for γ→α. Consequently, the polygonal ferrite (PF) and pearlite formed in each steel cooled at 1℃/s and, however, the increasing N content led to slightly coarser ferrite grain and pearlite colony. With the increased cooling rate to 10 and 30℃/s, a mixed microstructure of acicular ferrite (AF), granular bainite (GB) and lath bainite (LB) formed in 32N steel and in contrast, the mixture of PF+AF+GB in 8IN and 123N steels. The increasing N content promoted (Ti,V)(C,N) precipitation, enhanced the intragranular PF/AF nucleation, increased martensite/austenite constituent and depressed LB. In addition, the mechanisms dominating the effect of increasing N on this CCT of γ→α were discussed.