Development in oxide metallurgy for improving the weldability of high -strength low-alloy steel-Combined deoxidizers and microalloying elements

The mechanisms of oxide metallurgy include inducing the formation of intragranular acicular ferrite(IAF)using micron-sized inclusions and restricting the growth of prior austenite grains(PAGs)by nanosized particles during welding.The chaotically oriented IAF and refined PAGs inhibit crack initiation and propagation in the steel,resulting in high impact toughness.This work summarizes the com-bined effect of deoxidizers and alloying elements,with the aim to provide a new perspective for the research and practice related to im-proving the impact toughness of the heat affected zone(HAZ)during the high heat input welding.Ti complex deoxidation with other strong deoxidants,such as Mg,Ca,Zr,and rare earth metals(REMs),can improve the toughness of the heat-affected zone(HAZ)by re-fining PAGs or increasing IAF contents.However,it is difficult to identify the specific phase responsible for IAF nucleation because ef-fective inclusions formed by complex deoxidation are usually multiphase.Increasing alloying elements,such as C,Si,Al,Nb,or Cr,con-tents can impair HAZ toughness.A high C content typically increases the number of coarse carbides and decreases the potency of IAF formation.Si,Cr,or Al addition leads to the formation of undesirable microstructures.Nb reduces the high-temperature stability of the precipitates.Mo,V,and B can enhance HAZ toughness.Mo-containing precipitates present good thermal stability.VN or V(C,N)is ef-fective in promoting IAF nucleation due to its good coherent crystallographic relationship with ferrite.The formation of the B-depleted zone around the inclusion promotes IAF formation.The interactions between alloying elements are complex,and the effect of adding dif-ferent alloying elements remains to be evaluated.In the future,the interactions between various alloying elements and their effects on ox-ide metallurgy,as well as the calculation of the nucleation effects of effective inclusions using first principles calculations will become the focus of oxide metallurgy.

Effects of Rare-earth and Microalloying Elements on the Microstructure Characteristics of Hypereutectoid Rails

We performed thermal simulation experiments of double-pass deformation of hypereutectoid rails with different microalloying elements at a cooling rate of 1℃/s and deformation of 80%to explore the influence of rare-earth and microalloying elements on the structure of hypereutectoid rails and optimize the composition design of hypereutectoid rails.Scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,X-ray diffraction,and other characterization techniques were employed to quantitatively analyzed the effects of different microalloying elements,including rare-earth elements,on pearlite lamellar spacing,cementite characteristics,and dislocation density.It was found that the lamellar spacing was reduced by adding various microalloying elements.Cementite lamellar thickness decreased with the refinement of pearlite lamellar spacing while the cementite content per unit volume increased.Local cementite spheroidization,dispersed in the ferrite matrix in granular form and thus playing the role of dispersion strengthening,was observed upon adding cerium(Ce).The contributions of dislocation density to the alloy strength of four steel sheet samples with and without the addition of nickel,Ce,and Ce–copper(Cu)composite were 26,27,32,and 37 MPa,respectively,indicating that the Ce–Cu composite had the highest dislocation strengthening effect.The Ce–Cu composite has played a meaningful role in the cementite characteristics and dislocation strengthening,which provides a theoretical basis for optimizing the composition design of hypereutectoid rails in actual production conditions.

Static Softening Behaviour of Hot-worked Austenite in Microalloyed Structural Steel StE460

Double-hit compression tests were performed on StE460 steel containing microalloying elements niobium and vanadium over a range of temperatures and strain rates penment to hot rolling. The fractional softening was evaluated by use of the offset method, which was confirmed to be a very reasonable method. Appropriate expressions are given for the static recrystallization kinetics as a function of temperature and strain rate. Particular attention is paid to the effect of strain rate on static recrystallization. It can be shown that the static softening is apparently accelerated by strain rate. Recrystallization in low temperature austenitic region is stopped due to precipitation of carbonitrides of microalloying elements, which is reflected in the form of a plateau in the curves of static softening.

Behavior of precipitation in bainitic steel during relaxation processing of RPC technique

Thermal simulation test, TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) and nanobeamEDS (Energy Dispersed x-ray Spectrum) techniques were used to investigate the precipitation behaviorof Nb, Ti, Mo etc. in HSLA (High Strength Low Alloy) steel. The strain induced precipitationoccurred during the isothermal relaxation stage after deformed in the non-recrystallizationtemperature region. After 30% predeformation at 850 and 900℃, there are two kinds of particles,(Ti,Nb)(C,N) and a few Nb(C,N), to precipitate during holding. The content of Nb in particles riseswith the relaxation time increasing. During the final holding stage, some Nb and Ti atoms in thelattice sites of the precipitates would be replaced by Mo atoms, and the Mo content in theprecipitates increases with the relaxation time. The results were compared with the refinementeffect of microstructures caused by relaxation-precipitation controlling transformation (RPC)processing.