Abrasive Wear Characteristics of Carbon and Low Alloy Steels for Better Performance of Farm Implements

The low stress abrasion behaviours of heat treated mild, medium carbon and high C - low Cr steels, which are generally used in making farm implements, have been investigated. The simple heat treatment greatly improves the hardness, tensile strength and abrasion resistance of medium carbon and high C - low Cr steels. The results indicate that the material removal during abrasion is controlled by a number of factors, such as hardness, chemical composition, microstructure and heat treatment conditions. The conclusion is that the heat treated high C - low Cr steel and mild steel carburized by using coaltar pitch provide the best hardness and abrasion resistance and thus appear to be the most suitable materials for making agricultural tools.

Influence of soaking time in deep cryogenic treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of low-alloy medium-carbon HY-TUF steel

The influence of soaking time in deep cryogenic treatment on the tensile and impact properties of low-alloy medium-carbon HY-TUF steel was investigated in this study. Microstructural studies based on phase distribution mapping by electron backscatter diffraction show that the deep cryogenic process causes a decrease in the content of retained austenite and an increase in the volume fraction of η-carbide with increasing soaking time up to 48 h. The decrease in the content of retained austenite from ~1.23vol% to 0.48vol% suggests an isothermal martensitic transformation at 77 K. The η-type precipitates formed in deep cryogenic-treated martensite over 48 h have the Hirotsu and Nagakura orientation relation with the martensitic matrix. Furthermore, a high coherency between η-carbide and the martensitic matrix is observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The variations in macrohardness, yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and ductility with soaking time in the deep cryogenic process show a peak/plateau trend.

PHASE TRANSFORMATION UNIT OF BAINITIC FERRITE AND ITS SURFACE RELIEF IN LOW AND MEDIUM CARBON ALLOY STEELS

The lath-or plate-shaped bainitic ferrite of low and medium carbon alloy steels consists of packets of ferrite sublaths which are composed of many finer and regular ferrite blocks.They are uniform shear growth units of bainitic phase transformation.No carbide is precipitated from them.The bainitic O-carbides are precipitated from γ-α interface or carbon-rich austenite.The mode of arrangement of the units in ferrite sublath packet is in uni-or bi-di- rection.Single surface relief is produced by the accumulation of uniform shear strains with all the ferrite units arranged unidirectionally in a sublath packet,while tent-shaped surface relief is formed by the integration of the uniform shear strains of two groups with ferrite units piling up in two directions and growing face to face;whereas if they grow back to back,the integra- tion will be responsible for invert-tent-shaped surface relief.The interface trace between two groups of ferrite units in a sublath packet is shown as“midrib”.

The micro structure of high carbon low alloy steel for easy drawing

For better processing performance of high carbon low alloy steel wire rod,an investigation about the influence of cementite lamellar spacing on wire 'easy drawing' performance is completed.It is pointed out that too thin cementite lamellar spacing(<80 um) reduces the strain hardening level of wire drawing, and reduce the torsion performance of drawn wire at same time.For the wire or wire rod from industrial production,compared with the micro-structure with troostite,the micro-structure with sorbite or sorbite mixed with pearlite is more suitable to the drawing process with high reduction ratio.

New Heat Treatment Technology for Grain Refining of Structural Steel

The application of electrical contact heating （ECH） in austenitic grain refining of ultra-pure 42CrMoVNb steel was introduced. The ECH equipment was designed to reach uniform heating of uniform heat transfer in the sample. The 42CrMoVNb steel treated possesses uniform microstructure with an average austenite grain size of 1.4 μm, higher strength （1 538 MPa） and impact toughness （81J/cm^2）.

Effect of Prior Austenite Grain Size on the Morphology and Mechanical Properties of Martensite in Medium Carbon Steel

In industrial application,unintentional manufacturing line troubles often consequence in heating raw materials excessively,in terms of either time or temperature.One of the effects of such occurrence is a product with a variation of prior austenite grain size,even if after the heat treatment the end result is the same,martensite.The variation of the prior austenite grain size is believed to vary the end results of the martensite.This undesirable variation includes the variation of fatigue resistance,impact strength,yield strength,hardness,etc.This research studies the effect of the prior austenite grain size on the morphology of the martensite microstructure.The results show that within the typical industrial application of temperature and holding time set up,as holding time or the temperature increases,the prior austenite average diameter increases.The block and packet sizes in the martensite also increase.The variation of mechanical property dependence on the grain size is indeed due to the different characteristics reflected in the martensite morphology.With respect to the same area,smaller grain has more blocks and packets,which agrees with higher dislocation density verified with transmission electron microscopic evaluation.

A review of friction stir welding of steels： Tool, material flow, microstructure, and properties

Considerable progress has been achieved in friction stir welding （FSW） of steels in every aspect of tool fab- rication, microstructure control and properties evaluation in the past two decades. With the development of reliable welding tools and precise control systems, FSW of steels has reached a new level of technical maturity. High-quality, long welds can be produced in many engineering steels. Compared to traditional fusion welding, FSW exhibits unique advantages producing joints with better properties. As a result of active control of the welding temperature and/or cooling rate, FSW has the capability of fabricating steel joints with excellent toughness and strength. For example, unfavorable phase transformations that usu- ally occur during traditional welding can be avoided and favorable phase fractions in advanced steels can be maintained in the weld zone thus avoiding the typical property degradations associated with fusion welding. If phase transformations do occur during FSW of thick steels, optimization of microstructure and properties can be attained by controlling the heat input and post-weld cooling rate.

Electrochemical Characteristics in Seawater for Cold Thermal Spray-Coated Al-Mg Alloy Layer

For corrosion protection of carbon steel in a marine environment,cold arc thermal spray coating was applied to the surface with Al and Al-Mg alloy wires.The surface hardness of Al and Al-Mg thermal spray coatings increased with Mg content.And the various electrochemical experiments were carried out to evaluate corrosion damage characteristics of the thermal spray coating layers.The Al and Al-Mg thermal spray coating layers presented negative potentials compared to carbon steel in corrosion potential measurements.And an anodic polarization experiment revealed a tendency of activation polarization with no passivation.Furthermore,the corrosion damage of the thermal spray coating layer in galvanostatic experiment was observed mainly at the defect area,and the Al-3Mg thermal spray coating layer presented less surface damages than others.In addition,the Al-3Mg thermal spray coating layer showed the lowest corrosion rate while having a sufficient driving voltage for cathodic corrosion protection.Therefore,it is an optimal thermal spray material for sacrificial anode.