Development of grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite/granular bainite duplex steel

A new hot-rolled low alloy high strength steel with grain boundaryallotriomorphic ferrite/granular bainite duplex microstructure has been developed through novelmicrostructure and alloying designs without any noble metal elements such as nickel and molybdenum.Its as-rolled microstructure and mechanical properties, fatigue crack propagation behavior comparedwith single granular bainitic steel as well as continuous cooling transformation, were investigatedin detail. The measured result of CCT (continuous cooling transformation) curve shows that suchduplex microstructure can be easily obtained within a wide air-cooling rate range. More importantly,this duplex microstructure has much better combination of toughness and strength than the singlegranular bainite microstructure. It is found that the grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite in thisduplex microstructure can blunt the microcrack tip, cause fatigue crack propagation route branchingand curving, and thus it increases the resistance to fatigue crack propagation, improves steeltoughness. The mechanical properties of the above commercial duplex steel plates have achieved orexceeded 870 MPa ultimate tensile strength, 570 MPa yield strength, 18 percent elongation and 34 JCharpy V-notch impact energy at -40 deg C, showing good development potential.

Fine Microstructure of Bainitic Ferrite in Bainitic Steel

The fine microstructures of medium and medium-high carbon bainitic steels were observed and analyzed by high resolution electron microscope(HREM).The investigation results show that there are retained austenitic films with different appearances and sizes in bainitic ferrite laths.The boundaries of different structure levels are separated and encircled by retained austenitic films.The fine structure units and their sizes of different structure levels in the bainitic ferrite were determined by retained austenitic films.The bainitic ferrite laths are composed of different structure level sublaths,subunits and elementary units(or so called sub-subunits).The dimensions of most sublaths,subunits and elementary units are 25-80 nm,25-80 nm and 5.0-30 nm,respectively.

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”.

Bainite Transformation Under Continuous Cooling of Nb-Microalloyed Low Carbon Steel

Utilizing Gleeble-1500 thermomechanical simulator, the influences of hot deformation parameters on continuous cooling bainite transformation in Nb-microalloyed low carbon steel were investigated. The results indicate that bainite starting temperature decreases with raising cooling rate and increases with increasing deformation temperature. Deformation has an accelerative effect on the bainite transformation when the specimens are deformed at 950 ℃. When the deformation temperature increases, the effect of deformation on bainite starting temperature is weakened. The amount of bainite is influenced by strain, cooling rate, and deformation temperature. When the specimens are deformed below 900 ℃, equiaxed ferrites are promoted and the bainite transformation is suppressed.

Effects of ausforming strain on bainite transformation in nanostructured bainite steel

The effects of ausforming strain on bainite transformation in high-carbon low-alloy nanobainite steel were investigated using a Gleeble 3500 thermomechanical simulator machine.The bainite transformation speed at 300°C was found to be accelerated by ausforming at 300,600,and 700°C under applied strains ranging from 10% to 50% followed by isothermal transformation at 300°C.The ausformed bainite volume fraction varied with the ausforming strain because of the mechanical stabilization of the deformed austenite.Ausforming at low temperatures not only enhanced the bainite ferrite volume fraction but also refined the microstructure substantially.Although the amount of bainite ferrite might have been reduced with increasing strain,the microstructures were refined by ausforming.

Non-Steady Equilibrium during Pro-Eutectoid Ferrite Formation in Fe-0.2C Alloy

As rolled microstructure and mechanical properties of a new kind of grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite/granular bainite duplex steel plate and its crack propagation behavior were investigated in comparison with simple granular bainitic steel plate. These new duplex plate steels possess better combination of strength and toughness than granular bainite plate steels under the conditions of conventional rolling and air cooling. The observation of fatigue crack propagation behaviors showed that the existence of proper grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite increases the compatible deformation ability of duplex microstructure and leads to the formation of crack branching and curving route, and it has an evidently blunting effect on microcrack tip and results in higher impact toughness. In addition, the new duplex steel plate also has good weldability as hot rolled high strength low alloy structural steel.

Grain refinement in the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone in low-carbon high-strength microalloyed steels

The microstructural features and grain refinement in the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone in low-carbon high-strength microalloyed steels were investigated using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and electron backscattering dif- fraction. The coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone consists of predominantly bainite and a small proportion of acicular ferrite. Bainite packets are separated by high angle boundaries. Acicular ferrite laths or plates in the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone formed prior to bainite packets partition austenite grains into many smaller and separate areas, resulting in fine-grained mixed microstruc- tures. Electron backscattefing diffraction analysis indicates that the average crystallographic grain size of the coarse-grained region of the heat-affected zone reaches 6-9 μm, much smaller than that of anstanite grains.

Microstructure and Property of Coarse Grain HAZ X80 Pipeline Steel

The coarse grain HAZ microstructure and property of X80 pipeline steel with different carbon content was investigated. The weld thermal simulation test was carried out on Gleeble 1500 thermal mechanical test machine. The Charpy tests were completed at --20 ℃ for evaluating the toughness of coarse grain heat affected zone （CGHAZ）. The microstructure was examined by optical microscope （OM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, and the austenite constituent was quantified by X-ray diffraction. The results showed that the ultra-low carbon can improve the toughness of CGHAZ by suppressing the formation of carbide, decreasing the martensite austenite （M-A） constituent and increasing the residual austenite in the M A.

In-situ SEM observation on fracture behavior of austempered silicon alloyed steel

Crack initiation, propagation and microfracture processes of austempered high silicon cast steel have been investigated by using an in-situ tensile stage installed inside a scanning electron microscope chamber. It is revealed that micro cracks always nucleate at the yielding near imperfections and the boundary of matrix-inclusions due to the stress concentration. There are four types of crack propagations in the matrix: crack propagates along the boundary of two clusters of bainitic ferrite; crack propagates along the boundary of ferrite-austenite in bainitic ferrite laths; crack propagates into bainitic ferrite laths; crack nucleates and propagates in the high carbon brittle plate shape martensite which is transformed from some blocky retained austenite due to plastic deformation. Based on the observation and analysis of microfracture processes, a schematic diagram of the crack nucleation and propagation process of high silicon cast steel is proposed.

Effect of silicon and prior deformation of austenite on isothermal transformation in low carbon steels

Isothermal transformation （TTT） behavior of the low carbon steels with two Si contents （0.50 wt pct and 1.35 wt pct） was investigated with and without the prior deformation. The results show that Si and the prior deformation of the austenite have significant effects on the transformation of the ferrite and bainite. The addition of Si refines the ferrite grains, accelerates the polygonal ferrite transformation and the formation of M/A constituents, leading to the improvement of the strength. The ferrite grains formed under the prior deformation of the austenite become more homogeneous and refined. However, the influence of deformation on the tensile strength of both steels is dependent on the isothermal temperatures. Thermodynamic calculation indicates that Si and prior deformation reduce the incubation time of both ferrite and bainite transformation, but the effect is weakened by the decrease of the isothermal temperatures.

EFFECT OF SILICON ADDITION ON RECRYSTALLIZATION AND PHASE TRANSFORMATION BEHAVIOR OF HIGH-STRENGTH HOT-ROLLED TRIP STEEL

Because Si is a noncarbide forming element, a multiphase microstructure consisting of ferrite, bainite, and retained austenite, at room temperature, can be formed by controlling the thermomechanical process strictly. The cooling schedules must be restricted by the formation of pearlite and cementite. In the present article, a new integrated mathematical model for prediction of microstructure evolution during controlled rolling and controlled cooling is developed for a typical kind of low carbon Si-Mn TRIP steel, which consists of temperature simulation, recrystallization, and transformation models. The influence of Si contents has been thoroughly investigated. The calculated results indicate that Si retards recrystallization, restrains austenite grain growth as well as accelerates polygonal ferrite transformation.

Effect of Holding Time on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Dual-Phase Steel during Intercritical Annealing

Continuous annealing simulation tests were conducted by using a continuous annealing thermomechanical simulator. Holding times of 5, 60, 180, and 480 seconds for an intercritical annealing temperature of 820℃ were adopted to investigate the evolution of the mierostructure and mechanical properties of ferrite-bainite dual-phase steel. The ferrite-bainite dual-phase steel was characterized by high strength and low yield ratio due to the presence of the constituents （polygonal ferrite, bainite, martensite and retained austenite） of the steel microstructure. Specimen 3 exhibits the highest value of A50 （7.67%） and a product of Rm × A50 （10453MPa%） after a 180s holding. This is likely attributed to the presence of a C-enriched retained anstenite in the microstructure. And the effect of martensite islands and carbide precipitate is thought to be able to contribute in strengthening the present steel. It is expected that equilibrium of anstenite fraction would be reached for reasonable intercritical holding period, regardless of the heating temperature. The results suggest that long increasing holding times may not be needed because the major phase of the microstructure does not change very significantly. It is favorable for industrial production of DP steels to shorten holding times. Key words： ferrite-bainite dual-phase steel; holding time; martensite islands; mechanical properties

Weldability of Copper-bearing Aging Steel

The weldability of copper-bearing aging steel is evaluated using calculated cracking susceptibility index Pcm,oblique Y-groove cracking test,heat-affected zone （HAZ） maximum hardness measurement,submerged arc welding （SAW） test and gas metal arc welding （GMAW） test.The results show that this copper-bearing aging steel has low hardenability and cold cracking susceptibility.SAW test of 40 mm thick plate with WS03 wire matched by CHF101 flux reveals that the welded joints obtain high strength and good impact toughness at low temperature.The HAZ has no hardening but there exists a slightly softening phenomenon.Thus,line energy should be limited or controlled strictly to avoid softening behavior in HAZ during SAW.GMAW tests of 12mm and 24mm thick plates using WER70NH wire show that the tensile strength of joints reaches 720MPa,higher than the stipulated strength requirement of base metal.The average impact energy at-40℃ in the welded joints is more than 140J exceeding minimum stipulated requirement by a wide margin.There are no hardening and softening behaviors in the heat-affected zones of GMAW.All weld metals exhibit acicular ferrite （AF） plus small amount of proeutectoid ferrite （PF） structure,of which the former can significantly improve impact toughness of weld metal.The predominant microstructure in coarse grain HAZ is bainite.

强磁场下贝氏体相变的热力学机制研究

借助微观组织观察,研究了外加强磁场对钢中贝氏体相变的影响,结果表明,12 T强磁场作用缩短了贝氏体相变时间,增加了贝氏体铁素体的体积分数,贝氏体铁素体板条更为致密。另一方面,本文考虑到磁场对材料磁矩、居里温度和结构参数的影响,扩展了经典磁自由能计算模型。结果发现,低于居里温度时,长程磁有序对贝氏体铁素体的磁性贡献占主导地位,高于居里温度时,短程磁有序对其磁性贡献最大。另外,磁致磁熵改变量在居里温度处达到最大值,表明此时磁场对贝氏体铁素体磁有序程度的影响最为显著。利用扩展模型计算得到的磁自由能变化规律与实验结果相吻合,扩展模型的有效性和准确性得到验证。

Micromechanical Behavior and Failure Mechanism of F / B Multi-phase High Performance Steel

The deformation and micro-voids formation mechanisms in ferrite / bainite（ F / B） multi-phase steel with the volume fraction of bainite less than 50% were studied by numerical simulation and experimental observation. The results show that the micro-strain concentrates at the soft / hard phase（ F / B） interface in the multi-phase steel,which should be correlated with the mechanism of incoordinate deformation. During the necking of the steel,the micro-voids initially form around the F / B interface,which also form in ferrite and bainite with the severe strain. The micro-voids in bainite are more dense and finer than those in ferrite. The failure mechanism of bainite is the coalescence of micro-voids,and the failure mechanism of ferrite is the growth and tearing of micro-voids. Due to the different failure mechanisms of ferrite and bainite,a suitable part of soft phase would be beneficial to the capability of anti-failure of F / B multi-phase steel during the ductile fracture.

Continuous Cooling Bainite Transformation Characteristics of a Low Carbon Microalloyed Steel under the Simulated Welding Thermal Cycle Process

Continuous cooling transformation of a low carbon microalloyed steel was investigated after it was subjected to the simulation welding thermal cycle process and the interrupted cooling test. Microstructure observation was performed by optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. On the basis of the dilatometric data and microstructure observation, the continuous cooling transformation （CCT） diagram was determined, which showed that the main microstructure changes from a mixture of lath martensite and bainitic ferrite to full granular bainite with the increase in the cooling time t8/5 from 10 to 600 s, accompanied with a decrease in the microhardness. The interrupted cooling test confirmed that the bainitic ferrite can form attached to grain boundaries at the beginning of transformation even if the final microstructure contains a mixture of granular bainite and bainitic ferrite.

Stress-strain behavior of multi-phase high performance structural steel

A series of ferrite/bainite(F/B) multi-phase steels containing different volume fractions of ferrite were obtained.The effect of soft phase(ferrite) content on the work-hardening behavior of the steel was studied by the finite element simulation with V-BCC model and the modified Crussard-Jaoul(C-J) analysis.It is shown that the multi-phase steels have an excellent anti-deformation ability,such as higher stress ratio(R t1.5 /R t0.5),higher uniform elongation and lower yield to tensile strength ratio.For the F/B multi-phase steels,increasing the proportion of ferrite would help to increase the uniform elongation.However,introducing much more fraction of ferrite would not be helpful to improve the stress ratio of multi-phase steel.The ferrite plastic strain constrained by bainite would be beneficial to increasing the work hardening rate.The optimum proportion of ferrite will result both higher stress ratio and uniform elongation in multi-phase steel.

X80管线钢焊接粗晶区组织与韧性的研究

X80钢经焊接热模拟后粗晶区组织明显粗化,韧性显著下降.低碳时在粗晶区中的贝氏体铁素体板条间形成的硬而脆的Fe3C是恶化粗晶区韧性的主要原因.超低碳时在粗晶区中形成的马氏体-奥氏体(M-A)组元的含量比低碳时少,M-A组元中残余奥氏体所占的比例大,由于马氏体中偏聚的碳含量低,因而其塑性好,同时因超低碳抑制了Fe3C碳化物的形成而改善了粗晶区的韧性.

低碳Mo-Cu-Nb-B系微合金钢的中温转变组织类型

利用热膨胀仪对低碳 Mo-Cu-Nb-B 系微合金钢进行了不同温度的等温实验．结合金相(OM)、透射电镜(TEM) 研究了不同等温条件下组织转变特点．该微合金钢中温转变有三类组织：沿晶界形核并向晶内单方向生长的准多边形铁素体,晶界或晶内形核的针状铁素体和成束生长的板条贝氏体铁素体．620℃为发生准多边形铁素体转变的鼻尖；580℃只发生少量仿晶界铁素体转变,铁素体转变受到抑制；在530℃左右等温时,奥氏体将发生针状铁素体转变,这些针状组织彼此交割、独立生长, 分割原奥氏体晶粒,细化了组织．