Effects of Rare Earth on Behavior of Precipitation and Properties in Microalloyed Steels

The influence of rare earths on the behavior of precipitation of 14MnNb,X60 and 10MnV steels was studied by STEM, XRD, ICP and thermal simulation method. The main carbonitride precipitates are Nb(C, N),(Nb, Ti)(C, N)and V(C, N). In austenite RE delays the beginning of precipitation, and decreases the rate of precipitation. In ferrite RE promotes precipitation and increases the amount of equilibrium carbonitride precipitation. RE can make precipitates fine, globular and dispersed in the microalloyed steels. With the increase of the amount of RE in steel, the amount of precipitation increases. The promotion effect is weakened with excessive RE. RE has only little influence on the strength of microalloyed steel, but it can improve impact toughness effectively.

Mathematical Modelling of Carbonitride Precipitation during Hot Working in Nb Microalloyed Steels

Based on thermodynamics and kinetics, precipitation behavior of microalloyed steels was analyzed. Deformation greatly promotes isothermal carbonitride precipitation and makes C-curve shift leftwards. The position and shape of C-curve also depend on the content of Nb and N. C-curve shifts leftwards a little when N content increases and the nose temperature is raised with increasing Nb content. Deformation shortened precipitation start time during continuous cooling, raised precipitation start temperature, accelerated precipitation kinetics of carbonitrides. With decreasing the finishing temperature and coiling temperature, the precipitates volume fraction increases and strength increment is raised during hot rolling. The simulated results are in agreement with experiment results.

Thermodynamic Calculations of Composition of Carbide and Nitride Precipitates and Precipitation Order in Multi-Microalloyed Steels

By means of regular solution sublattice model,the mole fraction and composition of complex carbide and nitride precipitates in Nb-Ti-V microalloyed steels are calculated thermodynamically.Quantitative prediction of precipitation order of carbides and nitrides in complex precipitates is performed according to the calculated results at various austenitizing temperatures.The calculation can provide thermodynamic basis for quantitative prediction of complex precipitation behavior in NbTi-V-containing steels.

STRAIN-INDUCED ISOTHERMAL PRECIPITATION OF Nb,V AND Ti CARBONITRIDES IN MICROALLOYED STEELS DURING CONTROLLED ROLLING

The strain-induced isothermal precipitation and the law of coarsening of Nb,V and Ti carbonitrides in Nb-steel.V-steel.Nb-V steel and Ti-V-Nb steel have been investigated systematically by means of STEM,EDAX,a new extraction replica technique and the quanti- tative phase analyses method.

Influence of cooling rates on the precipitation behavior and microstructure of Nb-Ti microalloyed steel

Influence of different cooling rates on the microstructure and the precipitation behavior of Nb-Ti microalloyed steel was investigated by CSLM, OM, SEM and EDS. The results show that the precipitation process of carbonitrides can be in-situ observed by CSLM, and with the increase of the cooling rate, the distribution of precipitates changes from along the austenitic grain boundaries to within the grains. With the increase of the cooling rate, the proeutectoid ferritic film becomes smaller and smaller and then disappears, and the original austenitic grains become finer and finer. In order to obtain non-film like proeutectoid ferrites or non-chain like precipitates along the austenitic grain boundaries and finer austenitic grains,the cooling rate should be at least 5℃/s.

Microstructure and precipitation in two Zr-B microalloyed steels subjected to thermomechanical control process and weld thermal simulations

The microstructures and precipitates in base metals and heat affected zones （HAZs） of two Zr-B microalloyed steels were characterized by means of optical microscopy （OM）,transmission electron microscopy （TEM） and energy dispersive spectrum （EDS）.It has been found that precipitates of tens of nanometers in size are present in the base metals of both steels.The average particle size,however,in the Zr-B steel with Ti is larger than that in the steel without Ti.After thermal simulations,in both cases,the MnS sulfides can nucleate on cubic （Nb,Ti） （C,N） carbonitrides and nearly spherical Zr-bearing compounds.The precipitates in the HAZs of both steels are coarser than those in the base metals,in the ranges of 150-200 nm and 50-100 nm for Ti added and Ti-free steels,respectively.

Recrystallization and Precipitation Behavior during the Hot Deformation of Nb-Ti Microalloyed Steels

Constant strain rate compression tests at the temperature 900～1100 ℃ and the strain rate 10 -3 ～20 s -1 and the interpass time 300～1000 s of double stage interrupted tests were carried out for a microalloyed steel containing 0.024%Nb, 0.016%Ti, 1.39%Mn and 0.15%C, to investigate its dynamic (DRX), static (SRX) and metadynamic recrystallization (MDRX) and precipitation behavior. Softening curves were determined by the offset method and back extrapolation method. It was found that the SRX and MDRX process have different Avrami exponent n and apparent activation energy Q . For the former n=1, Q =359 kJ/mol, while for the later n = 0.57 , Q =259 kJ/mol. Influences of temperature, prestrain and strain rate on the kinetics of SRX process were discussed and a mathematical model was furtherly constructed. Finally, the precipitation time temperature (PTT) curve was determined by the stress relaxation tests, and the influence of precipitation on the SRX process was also discussed. Direct microstructural evidence for precipitation during and after deformation was obtained by transmission electron microscopy.

Kinetics of austenite growth and bainite transformation during reheating and cooling treatments of high strength microalloyed steel produced by sub-rapid solidification

First,strip cast samples of high strength microalloyed steel with sub-rapid solidification characteristics were prepared by simulated strip casting technique.Next,the isothermal growth of austenite grain during the reheating treatment of strip casts was observed in situ through confocal laser scanning microscope(CLSM).The results indicated that the time exponent of grains growth suddenly rise when the isothermal temperature higher than 1000℃.And the activation energy for austenite grain growth were calculated to be 538.0 kJ/mol in the high temperature region(above 1000℃)and 693.2 kJ/mol in the low temperature region(below 1000℃),respectively.Then,the kinetics model of austenite isothermal growth was established,which can predict the austenite grain size during isothermal hold very well.Besides,high density of second phase particles with small size was found during the isothermal hold at the low temperature region,leading to the refinement of austenite grain.After isothermal hold at different temperature for 1800 s,the bainite transformation in microalloyed steel strip was also observed in situ during the continuous cooling process.And growth rates of bainite plates with different nucleation positions and different prior austenite grain size(PAGS)were calculated.It was indicated that the growth rate of the bainite plate is not only related to the nucleation position but also to the PAGS.

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.

MISCIBLE PRECIPITATES IN V-Ti-N MICROALLOYED STEELS

The characteristics and the formation of the miscible particles in V-Ti-N microalloyed steels were studied.It was found that the vanadium to form V-Ti miscible particles starts to precipi- tate after pouring and cooling to temperature below 11 50℃ by means of the epitaxial precipi- tation on the pre-existing titanium nitrides.The vanadium content in the particles is markedly influenced by the cooling rate after solidification.

Effects of low-temperature tempering on the microstructure and precipitating evolution of newly developed high-strength microalloyed steel

The effect of tempering temperature on the microstrocture and precipitating evolution and the resultant mechanical properties of newly developed high-strength microalloyed steel plate was investigated by optical microscopy （OM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The steel mainly consists of fine lath martensite and lower bainite. The width of the martensitic laths in as-hot-rolled state is about 120 nm,and increases from 120 nm to 150 nm and 180 nm after tempering at 200 ℃ and 250℃ for 2 h respectively with no change in its morphology. Of special interest is the phenomenon that both tensile strength and impact toughness of the steel plate decrease with the increase of the tempering temperature, which might be attributed to the combination of lath martensite broadening and the coarsening of needle-like carbides located on the boundaries of lath martensite and within bainitic ferrite. It is suggested that the existence of the complex carbonitride larger than 100 nm in bainitic ferrite is one of the reasons.

Dynamic Recrystallization Behaviour of Nb-Ti Microalloyed Steels

The dynamic recrystallization （DRX） behavior of Nb-Ti microalloyed steels was investigated by isothermal single compression tests in the temperature range of 900-1 150 ℃ at constant strain rates of 0.1-5 s^-1. DRX was retarded effectively at low temperature due to the onset of dynamic precipitation of Nb and Ti carbonitrides, resulting in higher values of the peak strain. An expression was developed for the activation energy of deformation as a function of the contents of Nb and Ti in solution as well as other alloying elements. A new value of corrective factor was determined and applied to quantify the retardation produced by increase in the amount of Nb and Ti dissolved at the reheating temperature. The ratio of critical strain to peak strain decreases with increasing equivalent Nb content. In addition, the effects of Ti content and deformation conditions on DRX kinetics and steady state grain size were determined. Finally, the kinetics of dynamic precipitation was determined and effect of dynamic precipitation on the onset of DRX was clarified based on the comparison between precipitate pinning force and recrystallization driving force.

Phase transformation behavior of a hot-rolled,titanium microalloyed steel during heating and continuous cooling

The critical transformation temperatures,A_(c1) and A_(c3),of a hot-rolled low-carbon titanium microalloyed steel were determined as a part of an examination of its phase-transformation behavior. Austenite decomposition during the continuous cooling of the titanium microalloyed steel was studied by heating it to 1 250 ℃,cooling it to 880 ℃,holding for 2 s,and then cooling it to room temperature at different cooling rates. The transformation kinetics( CCT curve) was characterized as well.

Improvement in Mechanical Properties of Microalloyed Steel 30MSV6 by a Precipitation Hardening Process

The microstructural evolutions and mechanical properties of vanadium microalloyed steel （30MSV6） during precipitation hardening were studied. The effects of aging temperature and cooling rate on mechanical strength （yield strength and ultimate tensile strength） were similar. Increasing aging temperature or cooling rate firstly increased the mechanical strength of specimens up to their maximum values, which then decreased with further increase in aging temperature or cooling rate. Microstructural evolutions revealed that cooling rate had significant effects on the pearlite interlamellar spacing and size of pre-eutectoid ferrite. Unlike the effect of austenitizing temperature, the pearlite interlamellar spacing and pre-eutectoid ferrite size were decreased by increasing the cooling rate from austenitizing temperature. According to the microstructural evolutions and mechanical properties, the optimal heat treatment process of microalloyed steel 30MSV6 was austenitizing at 950 ℃ for 1 h, air cooling （3.8 ℃/s） and aging at 600 ℃ for 1.5 h. This optimal heat treatment process resulted in a good combination of elongation and yield strength.

Precipitation characteristic of high strength steels microalloyed with titanium produced by compact strip production

Transmission electron microscopy （TEM） and physics-chemical phase analysis were employed to investigate the precipitates in high strength steels microalloyed with Ti produced by compact strip production （CSP）. It was seen that precipitates in Ti microalloyed steels mainly included TiN, Ti4C2S2, and TiC. The size of TiN particles varied from 50 to 500 nm, and they could precipitate during or before soaking. The Ti4C2S2 with the size of 40-100 nm might precipitate before rolling, and the TiC particles with the size of 5-50 nm precipitated heterogeneously. High Ti content would lead to the presence of bigger TiC particles that precipitated in austenite, and by contrast, TiC particles that precipitated in ferrite and the transformation of austenite to ferrite was smaller. They were less than 30 nm and mainly responsible for precipitate strengthening. It should be noted that the TiC particles in higher Ti content were generally smaller than those in the steel with a lower Ti content.

Isothermal transformation and precipitation behaviors of titanium microalloyed steels

The microstructure transformation and precipitation behavior of nano-carbides in Ti microalloyed steel during isothermal process were studied by a compression test on a Gleeble 3800 thermomechanical simulator and analyzed by optical microscopy,transmission electron microscopy and other methods.The results show thatγ→αphase transformation and TiC precipitation take place in Ti microalloyed steel during the isothermal process,and time–temperature–transformation curve and precipitation–time–temperature(PTT)curve are all of“C”-type.During the isothermal process,the interphase precipitation of TiC mostly occurs at the period of the phase transformation,and the random precipitation of TiC mostly occurs on the ferrite after the phase transformation.The increment in yield strength at the initial stage of isothermal transformation mainly comes from phase transformation strengthening.With the increase in isothermal time,the precipitation hardening effect becomes more important for nucleation and growth of titanium carbides and eventually reaches the maximum value at the precipitation finished point of the PTT curve.

Precipitation Behavior of V-N Microalloyed Steels during Normalizing

The precipitation behavior of V-N microalloyed steel during normalizing process was studied by physicochemical phase analysis and transmission electron microscopy（TEM）. The effect of precipitation behavior on mechanical properties was investigated by theoretical calculations. The results showed that 32.9% of V（C,N） precipitates remained undissolved in the austenite during the soaking step of the normalizing process. These precipitates prevented the growth of the austenite grains. During the subsequent cooling process, the dissolved V（C,N） re-precipitated and played a role in precipitation strengthening. The undissolved V（C,N） induced intragranular ferrite nucleation and refined the ferrite grains. Consequently, compared with hot-rolled steel, the normalized steel exhibited increased grain-refining strengthening but diminished precipitation strengthening, leading to an improvement of the impact energy at the expense of about 40 MPa yield strength.

Kinetics of Precipitation Behavior of Second Phase Particles in Ferritic Ti-Mo Microalloyed Steel

Two types of stress relaxation tests were carried out to investigate the incubation time for incipient precipi-tation of Ti（C,N） in deformed austenite and （Ti,Mo）C in ferrite of ferritic Ti-Mo microalloyed steel The size dis-tribution, amount and chemical composition of precipitates were obtained by using physicochemical phase analysis, and calculated according to thermodynamics and kinetics. The experimental results demonstrated that the incubation time was reduced with increasing Ti content, and prolonged with the addition of Mo. After 30 % deformation at 850 ℃, the nucleation of strain-induced Ti（C,N） was a relatively slow process. On the other hand, the temperature where the nucleation rate of （Ti, Mo）C in ferrite was the highest descended first and then ascended with increasing Ti content, and so did the temperature where the incubation time was the shortest. The key point is that the tempera-ture of steel containing about 0.09 % Ti is the lowest. The mass fraction of MC-type particles with size smaller than 10 nm in steel containing 0.09% Ti and 0.2% Mo reached 73.7%. The size distributions of precipitates in steel containing 0.09% Ti were relatively concentrated compared with that in steel containing 0.07% Ti.

Two-Sublattice Thermodynamic Model on Carbonitride Precipitation in Microalloyed Steels Bearing Nb-V-Ti

Based on the two sublattice model of the regular solution,one being metal atom sublattice and another being interstitial atom sublattice,a thermodynamic model for the precipitates of niobium carbonitride,vanadium carbonitride and titanium carbonitride was established to study the starting-temperature of precipitates and the austenite compositions at given temperature in a low carbon steel.The calculation results show that starting-temperature of the precipitation of niobium carbonitride,vanadium carbonitride and titanium carbonitride are 1100℃,920℃ and 1340℃,respectively,the mole fraction of carbonitride precipitates is 8.65×10-4 in the 0.053C-0.0028N-1.28Mn-0.008S-0.031Al-0.046Nb-0.008Ti0.029V-Fe steel.When the N content is from 0.0028% to 0.0056%,the starting-temperature of the precipitation of the titanium carbonitride changes from 1340℃ to 1430℃.And the C content is from 0.053% to 0.07%,the startingtemperature of the precipitation of the titanium carbonitride hardly changes,but the atomic fraction of niobium in the carbonitride obviously increases.

Precipitation Kinetics on a Nb-V Microalloyed Steel

The precipitation kinetics in a low carbon high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel,microalloyed with V+Nb has been studied by using the stress relaxation method.This technique was carried out in a dynamic dilatometer and allows to determine the onset and finishing precipitation times in hot deformed austenite.The evolution of the precipitates was also observed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) on samples quenched at different times at given temperatures.Discussion is completed with the predictions by the thermodynamic software FactSage to identify stable precipitate phases under equilibrium conditions.Results confirm the feasibility of the stress relaxation technique as an efficient method for investigating precipitation kinetics.