Effect of liquid nitriding at 400–670 ℃ on microstructure and properties of C110 Steel

Liquid nitriding of Cll0 steel was conducted in a wide range of temperatures （400-670 ℃） using a kind of chemical heat-treatments, and the hardness, mechanical and corrosion properties of the nitrided surface were evaluated. Experimental results revealed that the microstructure and phase constituents of the nitrided surface alloy are highly depended on the processing condition. When C 110 steel was subjected to liquid nitriding at 430 ℃, the nitrided layer was almost composed of a thin e-Fe2-3N layer. When C 110 steel was subjected to liquid nitriding at 640 ℃, the phase composition of the nitrided layer was greatly changed. The nitrided layer depth increased significantly with increasing the treating temperature. The liquid nitriding effectively improved the surface hardness. After liquid nitriding, the absorption energy of the treated sample decreased and the tensile strength increased by Charpy V-notch （CVN） test. But the elongation of treated sample decreased. The reason is that the nitrided layer of sample is hardened and there is brittlement by diffusion of nitrogen atom. Despite of treatment temperature, the liquid nitriding can improve the corrosion. After being nitrided at 430 ℃, the nitrided layer of the C110 steel was mainly composed by e-Fe2 3N, which has excellent corrosion resistance and high microhardness, the nitrided sample has the best corrosion resistance. After nitriding temperature over 580 ℃, especially at 680 ℃, the sample＇s surface was covered by the thick oxide layer, which has very low hardness and corrosion resistance. So, the corrosion resistance of samples is severely compromised.

Tensile behavior and deformation mechanism of quenching and partitioning treated steels at different deforming temperatures

The effects of deforming temperatures on the tensile behaviors of quenching and partitioning treated steels were investigated. It was found that the ultimate tensile strength of the steel decreased with the increasing temperature from 25 to 100 ℃, reached the maximum value at 300 ℃, and then declined by a significant extent when the temperature further reached 400 ℃. The total elongations at 100, 200 and 300 ℃are at about the same level. The steel achieved optimal mechanical properties at 300 ℃due to the proper transformation behavior of retained austenite since the stability of retained austenite is largely dependent on the deforming temperature. When tested at 100 and 200 ℃, the retained aus tenite was reluctant to transform, while at the other temperatures, about 10 vol. % of retained aus- tenite transformed during the tensile tests. The relationship between the stability of retained austenite and the work hardening behavior of quenching and partitioning treated steels at different deforming temperatures was also studied and discussed in detail. In order to obtain excellent mechanical properties, the stability of retained austenite should be carefully controlled so that the effect of transforma tion-induced plasticity could take place continuously during plastic deformation.