The Effect of Different Annealing Strategies on the Microstructure Development and Mechanical Response of Austempered Steels
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Microstructure
3.2. Textures
3.3. Mechanical Properties
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
- Four-step thermo-cycling and ultrafast heating above the AC3 led to finer microstructures than conventional annealing. Retained austenite grain distributions were not greatly influenced by the prior annealing treatment.
- The microstructural refinement attained via thermo-cycling does not show a significant influence on the mechanical response for the studied steels.
- Ultrafast heating above the AC3 followed by fast cooling to room temperature retains a banded microstructure mainly composed of martensite and ferrite. The banded characteristics of the heat-treated material are similar to the observed in the as-received ferritic–pearlitic steel. Microstructural analysis suggested that the banded microstructure developed after heat treatment arises from local chemical heterogeneities in the parent austenite due to insufficient time for diffusion of alloying elements during the UFH process.
- In contrast to the conventional annealed sample, the grain refined-heterogeneous microstructure produced via a combination of UFH and austempering led to an increase of 40% in total elongation and 50% in energy absorbed measured under uniaxial strain to fracture.
- The enhancement of ductility of the UFH-bainitic steel is reached without sacrificing the strength level. The obtained results suggest that the formation of heterogeneous microstructures via ultrafast heating annealing has a greater influence on the mechanical response than the attained level of grain refinement.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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C | Mn | Si | P | S | FE |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.28 | 1.91 | 1.44 | 0.009 | 0.005 | Bal. |
Sample | Bainite,% * | Ferrite (SEM),% | Martensite (EBSD), % | RA (EBSD), % (0.2) | RA (XRD), % (0.5) | RA Carbon Content (XRD), wt.% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CA | 85.0 (0.5) | <1 | <1 | 11.9 | 14.0 | 1.36 (0.02) |
TC | 82.2 (0.7) | 2.5 (0.5) | <1 | 12.5 | 15.3 | 1.33 (0.02) |
UFH | 77.7 (0.7) | 8.5 (0.4) | <1 | 12.3 | 13.8 | 1.40 (0.01) |
Sample | σys, MPa | σUTS, MPa | σUTS/σys | εu | εtotal | Absorbed Energy, MJ/m3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CA | 895 (8) | 1131 (2) | 1.26 (0.01) | 0.14 (0.001) | 0.24 (0.005) | 251 (6) |
TC | 869 (8) | 1135 (7) | 1.31 (0.003) | 0.16 (0.003) | 0.25 (0.006) | 268 (4) |
UFH | 862 (13) | 1130 (6) | 1.31 (0.003) | 0.24 (0.01) | 0.35 (0.004) | 375 (1) |
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Hernandez-Duran, E.; Corallo, L.; Ros-Yanez, T.; Castro-Cerda, F.; Petrov, R.H. The Effect of Different Annealing Strategies on the Microstructure Development and Mechanical Response of Austempered Steels. Metals 2021, 11, 1041. https://doi.org/10.3390/met11071041
Hernandez-Duran E, Corallo L, Ros-Yanez T, Castro-Cerda F, Petrov RH. The Effect of Different Annealing Strategies on the Microstructure Development and Mechanical Response of Austempered Steels. Metals. 2021; 11(7):1041. https://doi.org/10.3390/met11071041
Chicago/Turabian StyleHernandez-Duran, Eliseo, Luca Corallo, Tanya Ros-Yanez, Felipe Castro-Cerda, and Roumen H. Petrov. 2021. "The Effect of Different Annealing Strategies on the Microstructure Development and Mechanical Response of Austempered Steels" Metals 11, no. 7: 1041. https://doi.org/10.3390/met11071041