Friction and wear behavior and mechanism of low carbon microalloyed steel containing Nb

Dry sliding friction and wear test of Nb containing low carbon microalloyed steel was carried out at room temperature,and the effect of Nb on the wear behavior of the steel,as welll as the mechanism was studied.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry(EDS) were employed to analyze the morphology and composition of the worn surface,and the structure evolution of the plastic deformation layer.The carbide content and type in the steel were analyzed by the electrolytic extraction device and X-ray diffraction(XRD).The experimental results demonstrate that the addition of 0.2% Nb can refine the grain and generate Nb C to improve the wear resistance of the steel.By enhancing the load and speed of wear experiment,the wear mechanism of the test steel with 0.2% Nb changes from slight oxidation wear to severe adhesion wear and oxidation wear.Compared with the load,the increase in the rotation speed exerts a greater influence on the wear of the test steel.

Cleanliness of Ti-bearing Al-killed ultra-low-carbon steel during different heating processes

During the production of Ti-bearing Al-killed ultra-low-carbon(ULC) steel, two different heating processes were used when the converter tapping temperature or the molten steel temperature in the Ruhrstahl–Heraeus(RH) process was low: heating by Al addition during the RH decarburization process and final deoxidation at the end of the RH decarburization process(process-Ⅰ), and increasing the oxygen content at the end of RH decarburization, heating and final deoxidation by one-time Al addition(process-Ⅱ). Temperature increases of 10°C by different processes were studied; the results showed that the two heating processes could achieve the same heating effect. The T.[O] content in the slab and the refining process was better controlled by process-Ⅰ than by process-Ⅱ. Statistical analysis of inclusions showed that the numbers of inclusions in the slab obtained by process-Ⅰ were substantially less than those in the slab obtained by process-Ⅱ. For process-Ⅰ, the Al_2O_3 inclusions produced by Al added to induce heating were substantially removed at the end of decarburization. The amounts of inclusions were substantially greater for process-Ⅱ than for process-Ⅰ at different refining stages because of the higher dissolved oxygen concentration in process-Ⅱ. Industrial test results showed that process-Ⅰ was more beneficial for improving the cleanliness of molten steel.

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.

Analysis of the formation conditions and characteristics of interphase and random vanadium precipitation in a low-carbon steel during isothermal heat treatment

The characteristics of nanosized precipitates in steels depend on the heat-treatment parameters. The effects of characteristics of vanadium precipitates formed during isothermal heat treatment on the hardness of the ferrite matrix in low-carbon vanadium-alloyed steel were investigated through analysis of transmission electron microscopy images and microhardness measurements. The results show that, during isothermal holding in the temperature range from 675 to 750℃, only interphase precipitation occurs, whereas only random precipitation occurs in the ferrite matrix during holding at 600℃. Furthermore, during isothermal heat treatment between 600 and 675℃, both random and interphase precipitates occurred in the ferrite. Nanoscale vanadium carbides with different atomic ratios of vanadium(V) and carbon(C) were the dominant precipitates in the random and interphase precipitates. The sizes of random precipitation carbides were smaller than those of interphase ones. Also, the sample isothermally heat treated at 650℃ for 900s exhibited a higher hardness with a narrower hardness distribution.

Kinetics of bainite-to-austenite transformation during continuous reheating in low carbon microalloyed steel

A dilatometer was used to study the kinetics of bainite-to-austenite transformation in low carbon microalloyed steel with the initial microstructure of bainite during the continuous reheating process. The bainite-to-austenite trans- formation was observed to take place in two steps at low heating rate. The first step is the dissolution of bainite, and the second one is the remaining bainite-to-austenite transformation controlled by a dissolution process. The calculation result of the kinetics of austenite formation shows that the two steps occur by diffusion at low heating rate. However, at high heating rate the bainite-to-austenite transformation occurs in a single step, and the process is mainly dominated by shear. The growth rate of austenite reaches the maximum at about 835℃ at different heating rates and the growth rate of austenite as a function of temperature increases with the increase in heating rate.

Experimental study on Ti+Nb bearing ultra-low carbon bake hardening sheet steel hot-rolled in the ferrite region

A Ti＋Nb bearing ultra-low carbon bake hardening sheet steel hot-rolled in the conventional austenite region and in the ferrite region with lubrication was experimentally studied. Subsequent cold rolling and continuous annealing processes were also conducted. The results show that microstructures of ultra-low carbon bake hardening hot strips at room temperature are basically irregular polygonal ferrites. The yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, n value, and r value of the No.2 specimen hot-rolled in the ferrite region with lubrication are 243 MPa, 364 MPa, 0.29, and 1.74, respectively, which are similar to those of the No.1 specimen hot-roiled in the conventional austenite region. The elongation rate and bake hardening value of No.2 specimen are 51% and 49.4 MPa, respectively, which are greater than those of No. 1 specimen. The No.2 specimen hot-rolled in the ferrite region with lubrication exhibits good mechanical properties and relatively excellent baking hardening performance. Therefore, the hot rolling experiment of Ti＋Nb bearing ultra-low carbon bake hardening steel in the ferrite region with lubrication is feasible and can be considered in the future industrial trial production.

A method to study interface diffusion of arsenic into a Nb-Ti microalloyed low carbon steel

A novel diffusion couple method was used to investigate the interface diffusion of arsenic into a Nb-Ti microalloyed low carbon steel and its effects on phase transformation at the interface. It is discovered that the content of arsenic has great effect on grain growth and phase transformation at high temperature. When the arsenic content is no more than lwt%, there is no obvious grain growth and no obvious ferrite transitional region formed at the diffusion interface. However, when the arsenic content is no less than 5wt%, the grain grows very rapidly. In addition, the arsenic-enriched ferrite transitional layer forms at the diffusion interface in the hot-rolling process, which results from a slower diffusion rate of arsenic atoms than that of carbon in ferrite.

Effect of lower bainite/martensite/retained austenite triplex microstructure on the mechanical properties of a low-carbon steel with quenching and partitioning process

We present a study concerning Fe-0. 176C-1.31Si-1.58Mn-0.26Al-0.3Cr （wt%） steel subjected to a quenching and partitioning （Q＆P） process. The results of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and tensile tests demon- strate that the microstructures primarily consist of lath martensite, retained austenite, lower bainite （LB）, and a small amount of tempered martensite; moreover, few twin austenite grains were observed. In the microstrucmre, three types of retained austenite with different sizes and morphologies were observed： blocky retained austenite （-300 nm in width）, film-like retained austenite （80-120 nm in width）, and ul- tra-fine film-like retained austenite （30-40 nm in width）. Because of the effect of the retained austenite/martensite/LB triplex microstructure, the specimens prepared using different quenching temperatures exhibit high ultimate tensile strength and yield strength. Furthermore, the strength effect of LB can partially counteract the decreasing strength effect of martensite. The formation of LB substantially reduces the amount of retained austenite. Analyses of the retained austenite and the amount of blocky retained austenite indicated that the carbon content is critical to the total elongation of Q＆P steel.

Coordinated control of carbon and oxygen for ultra-low-carbon interstitial-free steel in a smelting process

Low residual-free-oxygen before fmal de-oxidation was beneficial to improving the cleanness of ultra-low-carbon steel. For ultra-low-carbon steel production, the coordinated control of carbon and oxygen is a precondition for achieving low residual oxygen during the Ruhrstahl Heraeus （RH） decarburization process. In this work, we studied the coordinated control of carbon and oxygen for ultra-low-carbon steel during the basic oxygen furnace （BOF） endpoint and RH process using data statistics, multiple linear regressions, and thermodynamics computations. The results showed that the aluminum yield decreased linearly with increasing residual oxygen in liquid steel. When the mass ratio of free oxygen and carbon （[O]/[C]） in liquid steel before RH decarburization was maintained between 1.5 and 2.0 and the carbon range was from 0.030wt% to 0.040wt%, the residual oxygen after RH natural decarburization was low and easily controlled. To satisfy the requirement for RH decarburization, the carbon and free oxygen at the BOF endpoint should be controlled to be between 297 × 10^6 and 400 × 10^-6 and between 574 × 10^-6 and 775 × 10^-6, respectively, with a temperature of 1695 to 1715℃ and a furnace campaign of 1000 to 5000 heats.

Effect of tempering temperature on the mechanical properties and microstructure of an copper-bearing low carbon bainitic steel

The effect of tempering temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultra-high strength, copperbearing, low-carbon bainitic steel has been investigated in the experiment. The results showed that the microstructure was mainly the laths of bainite in the as-quenched steel. The bainitic laths were restored and combined after the steel tempered at various tempera- tures. There were rnartensite/austenite （M/A） islands and numerous dislocations within and between the bainitic laths, while very t-me precipitates of ε-Cu were also observed within the laths. With increasing the tempered temperature from 400 to 600℃, the yield strength （YS） increased from 877 to 957 MPa, whereas the ultimate tensile strength （UTS） decreased from 1020 to 985 MPa. The Charpy V-notch （CVN） varied from 68.5 to 42 J, and the value was minimal for the steel tempered at 500℃. 2008 University of Science and Technology Beijing. All rights reserved.

Effect of Strain Rate on the Ferrite Grain Refinement in a Low Carbon Nb-Ti Microalloyed Steel during Low Temperature Deformation

Grain refinement is one of the effective methods to develop new generation low carbon microalloyed steels possessing excellent combination of mechanical properties. The microstructural evolution and ferrite grain refinement at the deformation temperature of 865℃, above Ar3, with different strain rates were investigated using single pass isothermal hot compression experiments for a low carbon Nb-Ti microalloyed steel. The physical processes that occurred during deformation were discussed by observing the optical microstructure and analyzing the true stress-true strain responses. At strain rates of 0.001 and 0.01s^-1, there is no evidence of work hardening behavior during hot deformation and strain-induced transformation （SIT） leads to dynamic flow softening in flow curves. Optical microscopy observation shows that ultrafine and equiaxed ferrite with grain sizes of 2μm can be obtained by applying deformation with strain rate of 0.1 s^-1 due to SIT just after deformation. Furthermore, increasing the strain rate from 0.001 to 0.1 s^-1 reduces both the grain size of the equiaxed ferrite and the amount of deformed ferrite.

Preparation and Properties of Anti-oxidation Inorganic Nano-coating for Low Carbon Steel at an Elevated Temperature

A new kind of anti-oxidation inorganic nano-coating for the common low carbon steel was prepared. It included magnesite mineral, metallurgic dust and silicate adhesive as the main raw materials. The nano-coating could be sprayed directly onto the low carbon steel slab even though with hot surface as far as under 1000 ℃ . And at the same time, a compact thin nano-film was formed, and the film would inhibit the oxygen into the interface of the steel body and decrease the loss of weight because of oxidation. The loss was decreased by about 60% or more. The properties and mechanism of oxidation resistance of the coating were discussed through XRD, TG-DTA and SEM. The experimental results show that many reactions would happen among the companents of the coating and then many microspheres with the size of 80- 100nm generated in the system. By using the heat of the steel body, the silicate adhesive would interact with the microspheres, and the other components of the coating would be soft and sintered so that when the coating was sprayed onto the suface of the steel slab , the intact and compact film could be formed and adhesive with the steel body. Besides the special properties of anti- oxidation, the coating could prevent the volatilization of microelement in the steel such as silicate and carbon at a high temperature. So it can improve the quality and output of steel with this new kind of nano-coating.

Thermodynamic Research on Precipitates in Low Carbon Nb-Microalloyed Steels Produced by Compact Strip Production

Microalloying element Nb in low carbon steels produced by compact strip production （CSP） process plays an important role in inhibiting recrystallization, decreasing the transformation temperature and grain refinement.With decreasing the rolling temperature, dislocations can be pinned by carbonitrides and the strength is increased. Based on the two sublattice model, with metal atom sublattice and interstitial atom sublattice,a thermodynamic model for carbonitride was established to calculate the equilibrium between matrix and carbonitride. In the steel produced by CSP, the calculation results showed that the starting temperature of precipitation of Ti and Nb are 1340℃ and 1040℃, respectively. In the range of 890-950℃, Nb rapidly precipitated. And the maximum of the atomic fraction of Nb in carbonitride was about 0.68. The morphologies and energy spectrum of the precipitates showed that （NbTi） （CN） precipitated near the dislocations. The experiment results show that Nb rapidly precipitated when the temperature was lower than 970℃, and the atomic fraction of Nb in carbonitride was about 60%-80%. The calculation results are in agreement with the experiment data. Therefore the thermodynamic model can be a useful assistant tool in the research on the precipitates in the low carbon steels produced by CSP.

Novel mechanism for the modification of Al_2O_3-based inclusions in ultra-low carbon Al-killed steel considering the effects of magnesium and calcium

Many researchers have explored the inclusion modification mechanism to improve non-metallic inclusion modifications in steelmaking. In this study, two types of industrial trials on inclusion modifications in liquid steel were conducted using ultra-low-carbon Al-killed steel with different Mg and Ca contents to verify the effects of Ca and Mg contents on the modification mechanism of Al_2O_3-based inclusions during secondary refining. The results showed that Al_2O_3-based inclusions can be modified into liquid calcium aluminate or a multi-component inclusion with the addition of a suitable amount of Ca. In addition, [Mg] in liquid steel can further reduce CaO in liquid calcium aluminate to drive its evolution into CaO–MgO–Al_2O_3 multi-component inclusions. Thermodynamic analysis confirmed that the reaction between [Mg] and CaO in liquid calcium aluminate occurs when the MgO content of liquid calcium aluminate is less than 3 wt% and the temperature is higher than 1843 K.

Effect of temper rolling on the bake-hardening behavior of low carbon steel

In a typical process, low carbon steel was annealed at two different temperatures （660℃ and 750℃）, and then was temper rolled to improve the mechanical properties. Pre-straining and baking treatments were subsequently carried out to measure the bake-hardening （BH） values. The influences of annealing temperature and temper rolling on the BH behavior of the steel were investigated. The results indicated that the microstructure evolution during temper rolling was related to carbon atoms and dislocations. After an apparent increase, the BH value of the steel significantly decreased when the temper rolling reduction was increased from 0%to 5%. This was attributed to the increase in solute carbon concentration and dislocation density. The maximum BH values of the steel annealed at 660℃ and 750℃ were 80 MPa and 89 MPa at the reductions of 3%and 4%, respectively. Moreover, increasing the annealing temperature from 660 to 750℃ resulted in an ob-vious increase in the BH value due to carbide dissolution.

Prediction of the Charpy V-notch impact energy of low carbon steel using a shallow neural network and deep learning

The impact energy prediction model of low carbon steel was investigated based on industrial data. A three-layer neural network, extreme learning machine, and deep neural network were compared with different activation functions, structure parameters, and training functions. Bayesian optimization was used to determine the optimal hyper-parameters of the deep neural network. The model with the best performance was applied to investigate the importance of process parameter variables on the impact energy of low carbon steel. The results show that the deep neural network obtains better prediction results than those of a shallow neural network because of the multiple hidden layers improving the learning ability of the model. Among the models, the Bayesian optimization deep neural network achieves the highest correlation coefficient of 0.9536, the lowest mean absolute relative error of 0.0843, and the lowest root mean square error of 17.34 J for predicting the impact energy of low carbon steel. Among the variables, the main factors affecting the impact energy of low carbon steel with a final thickness of7.5 mm are the thickness of the original slab, the thickness of intermediate slab, and the rough rolling exit temperature from the specific hot rolling production line.

Structure Character of M-A Constituent in CGHAZ of New Ultra-Low Carbon Bainitic Steel under Laser Welding Conditions

800 MPa grade new ultra-low carbon bainitic （NULCB） steel is the recently developed new generation steel. The microstructure in the coarse-grained heat affected zone （CGHAZ） of NULCB steel under laser welding conditions was investigated by thermal simulation. The influence of the cooling time from 800℃ to 500℃.t8/5 （0.3-30 s）, on the microstructure of the CGHAZ was discussed. The experimental results indicate that the microstructnre of the CGHAZ is only the granular bainite which consists of bainitic ferrite （BF） lath and M-A constituent while t8/5 is 0.3-30 s. The M-A constituent consists of twinned martensite and residual austenite, and the change of the volume fraction of the residual austenite in the M-A constituent is very small when t8/5 is between 0.3 and 30 s. The morphology of the M-A constituent obviously changes with the variation of t8/5.As t8/5 increases, tile average width, gross and shape parameter of the M-A constituent increase, while the line density of the M-A constituent decreases.

Fretting Wear Behavior of Medium Carbon Steel Modified by Low Temperature Gas Multi-component Thermo-chemical Treatment

The introduction of surface engineering is expected to be an effective strategy against fretting damage. A large number of studies show that the low gas multi-component （such as carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen, etc） thermo-chemical treatment（LTGMTT） can overcome the brittleness of nitriding process, and upgrade the surface hardness and improve the wear resistance and fatigue properties of the work-pieces significantly. However, there are few reports on the anti-fretting properties of the LTGMTT modified layer up to now, which limits the applications of fretting. So this paper discusses the fretting wear behavior of modified layer on the surface of LZ50 （0.48%C） steel prepared by low temperature gas multi-component thermo-chemical treatment （LTGMTT） technology. The fretting wear tests of the modified layer flat specimens and its substrate （LZ50 steel） against 52100 steel balls with diameter of 40 mm are carried out under normal load of 150 N and displacement amplitudes varied from 2 μm to 40 μm. Characterization of the modified layer and dynamic analyses in combination with microscopic examinations were performed through the means of scanning electron microscope（SEM）, optical microscope（OM）, X-ray diffraction（XRD） and surface profilometer. The experimental results showed that the modified layer with a total thickness of 60 μm was consisted of three parts, i.e., loose layer, compound layer and diffusion layer. Compared with the substrate, the range of the mixed fretting regime（MFR） of the LTGMTT modified layer diminished, and the slip regime（SR） of the modified layer shifted to the direction of smaller displacement amplitude. The coefficient of friction（COF） of the modified layer was lower than that of the substrate in the initial stage. For the modified layer, the damage in partial slip regime（PSR） was very slight. The fretting wear mechanism of the modified layer both in MFR and SR was abrasive wear and delamination. The modified layer presented better wear resistance than the substrate in PSR and MFR; however, in SR, the wear resistance of the modified layer decreased with the increase of the displacement amplitudes. The experimental results can provide some experimental bases for promoting industrial application of LTGMTT modified layer in anti-fretting wear.

Effect of acicular ferrite on banded structures in low-carbon microalloyed steel

The effect of acicular ferrite （AF） on banded structures in low-carbon microalloyed steel with Mn segregation during both iso- thermal transformation and continuous cooling processes was studied by dilatometry and microscopic observation. With respect to the iso- thermal transformation process, the specimen isothermed at 550℃ consisted of AF in Mn-poor bands and martensite in Mn-rich bands, whereas the specimen isothermed at 450℃ exhibited two different morphologies of AF that appeared as bands. At a continuous cooling rate in the range of 4 to 50℃/s, a mixture of AF and martensite formed in both segregated bands, and the volume fraction of martensite in Mn-rich bands was always higher than that in Mn-poor bands. An increased cooling rate resulted in a decrease in the difference of martensite volume fraction between Mn-rich and Mn-poor bands and thereby leaded to less distinct microstrucmral banding. The results show that Mn segregation and cooling rate strongly affect the formation of AF-containing banded structures. The formation mechanism of microstructural banding was also discussed.