Development of microalloyed steels for high temperature carburizing

The potential for use of microalloy additions to suppress abnormal austenite grain growth and produce steels with enhanced bending fatigue resistance after high temperature vacuum carburizing was investigated in a series of Ti-modified SAE 8620 steels with w(niobium) additions up to 0.1%.Results are considered from a series of papers at the Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center on the effects of Nb content,heating rate, rolling history,and processing temperature on the evolution of austenite grain structures in carburizing steels. Emphasis is placed on understanding the effects of alloying and processing on each stage in the annealing process including the as received laboratory rolled conditions,during the onset of carburizing after annealing at different heating rates,and after annealing for various times at carburizing temperatures up to 1 100℃.Heating rate to the carburizing temperature was shown to be an influential variable and suppression of abnormal grain growth was dependent on the development of a critical distribution of fine NbC precipitates,stable at the austenitizing temperature.The importance to industrial carburizing practice of heating rate effects on precipitates and austenite grain size evolution are discussed and correlated to selected data on fatigue performance.

Microalloyed Steels for Heat Treating Applications at Higher Process Temperatures

The potential is considered for use of microalloyed bar steels,in conjunction with thermomechanical processing,to enhance the properties of steels heat treated at higher process temperatures than have been used historically.Two examples are highlighted:microalloyed spring steels with enhanced resistance to tempering and Nb-modified gear steels for high temperature vacuum carburizing,e.g.on the order of 1050℃ versus 930℃ for a typical gas carburizing operation.In the spring steel example,the Nb+V steel results in significantly finer prior austenite grain sizes than the other steels considered,enhanced fatigue performance,and improved toughness.In the Nb-modified carburizing steel,Nb additions up to 0.1 wt pct to a Ti-modified 8620 steel,in conjunction with thermomechanical processing to control initial precipitate distributions prior to carburizing,are shown to lead to materials with improved resistance to abnormal austenitic grain growth at the higher process temperatures.Alloy content and heating rate to the carburizing temperature were shown to be important variables and suppression of abnormal grain growth was correlated with the development of a critical distribution of fine NbC precipitates,stable at the austenitizing temperature leading to improved fatigue performance in steels with fine and uniform grain structures.Opportunities for extending the results of this study to alloy design and controlled rolling in bar mills are assessed.