Microstructure Changes during Cavitation Erosion for a Steel with Metastable Austenite

The characteristics of microstructure changes during cavitation erosion (CE) were investigated by the use of XRD and TEM analyses for steel (ZG0Cr13Mn8N) with metastable austenite. The results show that the microstructure of the surface layer of the specimens consists of α'-martensite, metastable austenite and a few ε-martensite before CE. CE obviously increases dislocation density and straight or planar dislocations on the surface, and induces γ->ε,ε-> α' and γ->α'-martensitic transformation.

EXPLOITATION AND APPLICATIONS OF METASTABLE AUSTENITE MATRIX WEAR ALLOYS

Fe based cast alloys with double phases structure of m etastable austenite m atrix an d eutecticcarbide M7 C3 were provided with the excellent properties of high abrasion resistance andhigher i m pact toughness . An i m portant reason of high abrasion resistance is hard ness violentincreasing on the m atrix surface because of w ear easily induced m artensite transfor m ation . The exploitation and applications of m etastable austenite m atrix wear alloys of Fe C Cr Nisyste m and Fe C Cr Mn system were described in this paper . The excellent properties of thesealloys w ill be sufficiently indicated by authors’exa m ples . To exploit a class of these alloyswith high abrasion resistance and various im pact toughness for m eeting the requirem ent of dif ferent environ ment , the proble m of the structure design of metastable austenite m atrix wearalloy w as also described in this paper .

Roles of nanoscale precipitates and metastable austenite in determining strength and toughness of high-strength Nb-bearing steel

The effects of tempering temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of high-strength structural steel containing niobium were investigated to examine the roles of nanoscale precipitates and metastable austenite in determining the yield strength and toughness.After hot-rolling and quenching,three experimental steels were tempered at 590,630,and 670℃.During tempering,nanoscale Nb(C,N)precipitates were formed with the recovery of quenched martensite.The average diameters of Nb(C,N)precipitates increased from 5.4 to 8.2 nm as the tempering temperature was increased.Notably,reversed austenite with a volume fraction of 9%was formed at tempering temperatures up to 670℃.The yield strengths of steel containing tempered martensite tempered at 590 and 630℃ were 965 and 831 MPa,and the tensile strengths were 998 and 879 MPa,respectively.However,the steel comprising reversed austenite and tempered martensite tempered at 670℃ showed continuous yielding behavior,affording yield and tensile strengths of 610 and 889 MPa,respectively.The impact energy increased from 105 to 260 J at−60℃ with increasing tempering temperature.Reversed austenite improves low-temperature toughness by significantly increasing the crack propagation energy.

In situ neutron diffraction revealing the achievement of excellent combination of strength and ductility in metastable austenitic steel by grain refinement

The yield stress of Fe-24Ni-0.3C(wt%)metastable austenitic steel increased 3.5 times(158→551 MPa)when the average grain size decreased from 35μm(coarse-grained[CG])to 0.5μm(ultrafine-grained[UFG]),whereas the tensile elongation was kept large(0.87→0.82).In situ neutron diffraction measurements of the CG and UFG Fe-24Ni-0.3C steels were performed during tensile deformation at room temperature to quantitatively elucidate the influence of grain size on the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms.The initial stages of plastic deformation in the CG and UFG specimens were dominated by dislocation slip,with deformation-induced martensitic transformation(DIMT)also occurring in the later stage of deformation.Results show that grain refinement increases the initiation stress of DIMT largely and suppresses the rate of DIMT concerning the strain,which is attributed to the following effects.(i)Grain refinement increased the stabilization of austenite and considerably delayed the initiation of DIMT in the<111>//LD(LD:loading direction)austenite grains,which were the most stable grains for DIMT.As a result,most of the<111>//LD austenite grains in the UFG specimen failed to transform into martensite.(ii)Grain refinement also suppressed the autocatalytic effect of the martensitic transformation.Nevertheless,the DIMT with the low transformation rate in the UFG specimen was more efficient in increasing the flow stress and more appropriate to maintain uniform deformation than that in the CG specimen during deformation.The above phenomena mutually contributed to the excellent combination of strength and ductility of the UFG metastable austenitic steel.

Effects of Aging at 550℃ on α'-Martensitic Transformation of High Si-Bearing Metastable Austenitic Stainless Steel Weld Metal

The high Si-bearing 15Cr-9Ni-Nb metastable austenitic stainless steel weld metal was prepared via gas tungsten arc welding and then processed by stabilized heat treatment(SHT)at 850℃ for 3 h.The effects of 550℃ aging on the α'-martensitic transformation of the as-welded and the SHT weld metals were investigated.The results showed that the weld metal had poor thermal stability of austenite.The precipitation of NbC during the 850℃ SHT made the thermal stability of the local matrix decrease and led to the formation of a large amount of C-depleted α'-martensite.The precipitation of coarse σ-phase at the δ-ferrite led to the Cr-depleted zone and the formation of Cr-depleted α'-martensite at the early stage of 550℃ aging.The homogenized diffusion of C and Cr in the matrix during 550℃ aging led to the restoration of austenitic thermal stability and the decrease of α'-martensite content.The C-depleted α'-martensite content in the SHT weld metal decreased rapidly at the early stage of aging due to the fast diffusion rate of the C atom in the matrix,while the Cr-depleted α'-martensite decreased at the later stage of aging due to the decreased diffusion rate of the Cr.

Austenite Grain Refinement by Reverse α′→γ Transformation in Metastable Austenitic Manganese Steel

Microstructure of metastable austenitic manganese steel after reverse transformation treatment was investi gated using optical microscopy, X ray diffraction （XRD）, electrical resistivity and hardness testing. Austenite grain refinement was successfully achieved by a two-step heat treatment. First, martensite was produced by cooling the so- lution-treated samples to --196 ℃. Then, the deep cryogenic treated samples were heated to 850 ℃ upon slow or rapid heating. The mean size of original austenite grain was about 400 fire. But the mean size of equiaxed reversion austenite was refined to 50 μm. Microstructure evolution and electrical resistivity change showed that martensite plates underwent tempering action upon slow heating, and the residual austenite was decomposed, resulting in the formation of pearlite nodules at the austenite grains boundaries. The refinement mechanism upon slow heating is the diffusion-controlled nucleation and growth of austenite. However, the reverse transformation upon rapid heating was predominated by displacive manner. The residual austenite was not decomposed. The plate α-phase was carbon-super- saturated until the starting of reverse transformation. The reverse transformation was accompanied by surface effect, resulting in the formation of plate austenite with high density dislocations. The refinement mechanism upon rapid heating is the recrystallization of displacive reversed austenite.

Effect of Cold Rolling on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AISI 301LN Metastable Austenitic Stainless Steels

The microstructure and mechanical properties evolution of AISI 301LN metastable austenitic stainless steels during cold rolling were investigated. A wide range of cold thickness reduction (10%-80%) was carried out in a four-high rolling mill at ambient temperature. The X-ray and Feritscope MP30 were used to identify the strain-induced α′-martensite phase and its volume fraction, respectively. The microstructure was observed by optical micrograph and the mechanical properties were determined by tensile tests and microhardness. The results show that the strain-induced α′-martensite nucleated at the shear bands intersections and the growth of α′-martensite occurred by the repeated nucleation of new embryos. The volume fraction of strain-induced α′-martensite increased with increasing the cold rolling reduction. In addition, the percentage increased in the tensile strength is the same as that of hardness. The ratio between the average tensile strength and the average microhardness was found to range between 2.82 and 3.17.

Microstructure Refinement and Property Improvement of Metastable Austenitic Manganese Steel Induced by Electropulsing

Grain refinement efficiency of electropulsing treatment （EPT） for metastable austenitic manganese steel was investigated. The mean grain size of original austenite is 300 ptm. However, after EPT, the microstructure ex hibits a bimodal grain size distribution, and nearly 70vol. % grains are less than 60 /Lm. The refined austenite results in ultrafine martensitic microstrncture. The tensile strengths of refined austenitic and martensitic microstructures were improved from 495 to 670, and 794 to 900 MPa respectively. The fine grained materials possess better fracture toughness. The work hardening capacity and wear resistance of the refined austenitic microstructure are improved. The reasonable mechanism of grain refinement is the combination of accelerating new phase nucleation and restraining the growth of neonatal austenitic grain during reverse transformation and rapid recrystallization induced by electropulsing.

Influence of Strain Rate on Tensile Characteristics of SUS304 Metastable Austenitic Stainless Steel

The microstructure characteristics and plastic deformation behavior of SUS304 metastable austenitic stainless steel sheets have been investigated during tensile process at different strain rates at room temperature. The yield stress continuously increases with strain rates due to low fraction of martensite transformed from austenite at 0.2% plastic stain. While the ultimate tensile stress （UTS） and elongation gradually decreases and then slightly increases with increase in strain rate from 0.0005 s-1 to 0.i s-1, which is attributed to the variation of the martensite fraction that is affected seriously by adiabatic heating. A higher temperature increase in the tensile specimens restricts the martensitic transformation at high strain rate. The strain rate of 0.1 s-1 is considered as a transition deformation rate from quasi-static state to plastic forming, where the transformed martensitic content is very small in a higher strain rate range. Anomalous stress peaks in the later half stage of deformation occur at a very low strain rate （i.e., 0.0005 s-1） result from X-shaped strain localization repeatedly sweeping over the specimen. With increasing strain rates, the variation of dimple number density follows similar trend as that of UTS and ductility because martensite fraction mostly influences void nucleation and growth.

Combination of cold drawing and cryogenic turning for modifying surface morphology of metastable austenitic AISI 347 steel

The application of components often depends to a large extent on the properties of the surface layer.A novel process chain for the production of components with a hardened surface layer from metastable austenitic steel was presented.The investigated metastable austenitic AISI 347 steel was cold-drawn in solution annealed condition at cryogenic temperatures for pre-hardening,followed by post-hardening via cryogenic turning.The increase in hardness in both processes was due to strain hardening and deformation-induced phase transformation from y-austenite to^-martensite.Cryogenic turning experiments were carried out with solution annealed AISI 347 steel as well as with solution annealed and subsequently cold-drawn AISI 347 steel.The thermomechanical load of the workpiece surface layer during the turning process as well as the resulting surface morphology was characterized.The forces and temperatures were higher in turning the cold-drawn AISI 347 steel than turning the solution annealed AISI 347 steel.After cryogenic turning of the solution annealed material,deformation-induced phase transformation and a significant increase in hardness were detected in the near-surface layer.In contrast,no additional phase transformation was observed after cryogenic turning of the cold-drawn AISI 347 steel.The maximum hardness in the surface layer was similar,whereas the hardness in the core of the cold-drawn AISI 347 steel was higher compared to that in the solution annealed AISI 347 steel.

A feasible route to produce 1.1 GPa ferritic-based low-Mn lightweight steels with ductility of 47%

High- and medium-Mn (H/M-Mn) base lightweight steels are a class of ultrastrong structural materials with high ductility compared to their low-Mn counterparts with low strength and poor ductility.However, producing these H/M-Mn materials requires the advanced or high-tech manufacturing techniques, which can unavoidably provoke labor and cost concerns. Herein, we have developed a facilestrategy that circumvents the strength–ductility trade-off in low-Mn ferritic lightweight steels, by employing low-temperature tempering-induced partitioning (LTP). This LTP treatment affords a typical Fe-2.8Mn-5.7Al-0.3C (wt.%) steel with a heterogeneous size-distribution of metastable austenite embeddedin a ferrite matrix for partitioning more carbon into smaller austenite grains than into the larger austenite ones. This size-dependent partitioning results in slip plane spacing modification and lattice strain,which act through dislocation engineering. We ascribe the simultaneous improvement in strength andtotal elongation to both the size-dependent dislocation movement in austenite grains and the controlleddeformation-induced martensitic transformation. The low-carbon-partitioned large austenite grains increase the strength and ductility as a consequence of the combined martensitic transformation andhigh dislocation density-induced hardening and by interface strengthening. Additionally, high-carbonpartitioned small austenite grains enhance the strength and ductility by planar dislocation glide (inthe low strain regime) and by cross-slipping and delayed martensitic transformation (in the high strainregime). The concept of size-dependent dislocation engineering may provide different pathways for developing a wide range of heterogeneous-structured low-Mn lightweight steels, suggesting that LTP maybe desirable for broad industrial applications at an economic cost.