Effects of Partially Replacing Mo with Nb on the Microstructure and Properties of High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel during Reverse Austenization
<p>Hot-rolling and heat treatment processes for the steels.</p> "> Figure 2
<p>Mechanical properties of hot-rolled and heat-treated steel samples: (<b>a</b>) tensile strength and yield strength; (<b>b</b>) elongation and impact absorption energy.</p> "> Figure 3
<p>SEM images showing the microstructures of the steel samples: (<b>a</b>) GQ0, (<b>b</b>) GQ1, (<b>c</b>) GQ0-HT and (<b>d</b>) GQ1-HT.</p> "> Figure 4
<p>TEM images showing the microstructures of the steel samples after heat treatment: (<b>a</b>–<b>f</b>) GQ0-HT and (<b>g</b>–<b>l</b>) GQ1-HT. The first column shows bright-field images, the second column displays local magnifications of the first column and the third column exhibits the corresponding high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) images of the first column.</p> "> Figure 5
<p>TEM images showing the precipitates of GQ0-HT: (<b>a</b>,<b>c</b>) bright-field images and (<b>b</b>,<b>d</b>) HAADF images.</p> "> Figure 6
<p>TEM images showing the precipitates of GQ1-HT: (<b>a</b>,<b>c</b>) bright-field images and (<b>b</b>,<b>d</b>) HAADF images.</p> "> Figure 7
<p>Inverse pole figure (IPF) maps of the steel samples: (<b>a</b>) GQ0, (<b>b</b>) GQ1, (<b>c</b>) GQ0-HT and (<b>d</b>) GQ1-HT.</p> "> Figure 8
<p>Effective grain size distributions of the steel samples: (<b>a</b>) GQ0, (<b>b</b>) GQ1, (<b>c</b>) GQ0-HT and (<b>d</b>) GQ1-HT.</p> "> Figure 9
<p>EBSD grain boundary maps of the steel samples: (<b>a</b>) GQ0, (<b>b</b>) GQ1, (<b>c</b>) GQ0-HT and (<b>d</b>) GQ1-HT (red lines indicate neighbouring grain orientation differences of 2° to 15°; black lines indicate orientation differences greater than 15°).</p> "> Figure 10
<p>Distributions of grain boundary misorientations for the steel samples: (<b>a</b>) GQ0, (<b>b</b>) GQ1, (<b>c</b>) GQ0-HT and (<b>d</b>) GQ1-HT.</p> "> Figure 11
<p>Precipitate size distributions of the steel samples.</p> ">
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Effect of Partial Replacement of Mo by Nb on the Mechanical Properties
3.2. Effect of Partial Replacement of Mo by Nb on the Microstructure
3.3. Strengthening and Toughening Mechanisms
4. Conclusions
- Partially replacing Mo with Nb initially resulted in comprehensively lower mechanical properties of HSLA steel after hot-rolling treatment. However, after pre-tempering and reheating and quenching, the heat treatment greatly increased the strength while retaining ductility and toughness, which helped to mitigate the negative effects of replacing Mo with Nb and achieved a good balance between strength, ductility and toughness.
- The heat treatment increased the percentage of high-angle grain boundaries and decreased the average EGS of the HSLA steels, which enhanced their strength, ductility and toughness. Thus, the partial replacement of Mo by Nb can be combined with heat treatment to effectively control the microstructure of HSLA steels.
- Heat treatment greatly increased the mass fraction of precipitates, and the precipitates in GQ1-HT and GQ2-HT had similar size distributions. The second-phase particles in these steels were effective at pinning grain boundaries during austenisation, which led to similar grain refinement effects and mechanical properties.
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Type | C | Si | Mn | Ti | Cr | Mo | Nb | Fe |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GQ0 | 0.25–0.28 | 0.25–0.30 | 1.0–1.3 | 0.1–0.2 | 0.3–0.4 | 0.25–0.30 | -- | Bal. |
GQ1 | 0.10–0.15 | 0.05–0.09 |
Sample | GQ0 | GQ0-HT | GQ1 | GQ1-HT |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ti | 0.096 | 0.192 | 0.088 | 0.196 |
Mo | 0.112 | 0.256 | 0.069 | 0.144 |
Nb | - | - | 0.034 | 0.086 |
C | 0.036 | 0.051 | 0.039 | 0.068 |
N | 0.003 | 0.006 | 0.004 | 0.008 |
Σ | 0.247 | 0.505 | 0.234 | 0.502 |
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Luo, L.; Zhang, J.; Fu, H.; Chen, F.; Qin, J.; Li, Y. Effects of Partially Replacing Mo with Nb on the Microstructure and Properties of High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel during Reverse Austenization. Metals 2024, 14, 896. https://doi.org/10.3390/met14080896
Luo L, Zhang J, Fu H, Chen F, Qin J, Li Y. Effects of Partially Replacing Mo with Nb on the Microstructure and Properties of High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel during Reverse Austenization. Metals. 2024; 14(8):896. https://doi.org/10.3390/met14080896
Chicago/Turabian StyleLuo, Liang, Jiajun Zhang, Hao Fu, Fuhu Chen, Jianchun Qin, and Yimin Li. 2024. "Effects of Partially Replacing Mo with Nb on the Microstructure and Properties of High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel during Reverse Austenization" Metals 14, no. 8: 896. https://doi.org/10.3390/met14080896