Studies on the Mechanical Properties of C45 Steel
with Martensitic Structure after a High Tempering
Process
Pawel Zajac ( pawel.zajac@pwr.edu.pl )
Wrocław University of Science and Technology
Waldemar Woźniak
University of Zielona Góra
Michał Sasiadek
University of Zielona Góra
Research Article
Keywords: steel, heat treatment, quenching, tempering, steel structure, martensitic structure
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-841250/v1
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Read Full License
Page 1/18
Abstract
This article describes the studies of the mechanical properties of the martensitic structure of C45 steel,
obtained as a result of heat treatment by a corresponding cooling method. This steel was subjected to
high tempering, within the temperature range of 500÷700o C (every 50o C) and for various exposure times,
from 15 minutes to 23 hours. Moreover, martensitic steel was subjected to non-standard tests by
quenching at a temperature of 850 oC for 20 minutes and then tempering it for 1 hour, within the
temperature range of 50÷800o C (50o C). The resulting steel structure variants were subjected to strength
tests, that is, to tensile and hardness tests and also to tests on the micro-structure. The results of these
studies are presented and discussed, in detail, in terms of their practical application.
1. Introduction
Machine parts made of medium-carbon steel by cavity processing, such as by forging or casting, are very
often subjected to pre-thermal or thermo-chemical treatment. in order to improve their performance
properties. Pre-heat treatment consists of several stages. Usually the first of these is quenching or
isothermal quenching, which results in various steel structures such as martensite, bainite, or perlite with
ferrite; this possibly tolerates a mixture of these structural components [1, 2]. Most often, the next stage
of the heat treatment operation is tempering which can be performed at different temperature ranges,
namely, low, medium and high tempering.
Manufacturers of heat-treated, steel parts strive to reduce heat treatment, time and hence energy
consumption costs. It is well known that heat treatment has a significant impact on production costs.
The best combination of steel properties, in terms of ductility and strength, is achieved as a result of
"thermal improvement", so-called, which is a combination of the two operations of quenching and high
tempering.
The development of metal science, especially the development of new research tools, used in
metallographic research, provides all the best cognitive capabilities that are used for production
management. Information, obtained as a result of research, can be translated into the parameters of the
production process of machine parts, carried out using heat treatment. The purpose of such research is
very often to reduce the cost of production, by reducing processing time and reducing energy
consumption, along with the use of new media in production thus improving the performance of the
products and/or the materials [3]. This improves the competitive position of the parts manufacturer and
gives it a market advantage.
Modern science, dominated by new developments in the field of composite materials, nanotechnology,
etc., allows C45 steel to be looked at as a material that, after thermal improvement, can be considered as
a composite, consisting of a base, in the form of soft ferrite, reinforced with granules of hard cementite.
This expression can also describe the ferritic-perlitic structure of this steel, after such as hot rolling, after
normalisation, with the exception that, in this case, it will be ferrite, reinforced with a lamellar form of
Page 2/18
cementite. These two forms of cementite, present in C45 steel, have long been known about and
recognised and are a classic, metallurgical problem. It is known that the tile form of cementite gives the
worst performance, whereas the ball form is better [4]. At present, we are more interested in considering
how the release of cementite, obtained after tempering, affects its usefulness. Their sizes vary, depending
on the temperature at which the tempering is conducted. Such information is not available in the
literature and therefore an attempt has been made to obtain it through experiments, the results of which
are presented in this article. For this article, grade C45 steel was selected for the study with only those
changes in the structure and properties being analysed that would appear in the steel under study when
the technological parameters were changed, during the quenching and tempering processes. The applied,
empirical research method consisted in conducting a series of heat treatments under laboratory
conditions and describing the effect of the changes in the parameters of these processes on the structure
and properties of the material under study.
When the correct method of cooling was chosen, the martensitic structure was obtained [5]. Additionally,
it was subjected to high tempering during the various parameters of the process, with any samples,
prepared in this manner, being examined both with regard to structure and to strength, using a scanning
microscope for the static, tensile testing and for measuring micro-hardness.
Steel testing can involve many aspects. The most common of these are mechanical studies,
metallographic or structural studies, as well as studies on anti-corrosion and other properties. In the
literature, a large area of research is devoted to the strength testing of welded, steel joints. A unified
description of the hardness of martensitic steels for a wide range of carbon content has been presented
in [6].
These concern, among other things, tests for the strength of welded joints, obtained by a fibre laser at
various welding speeds [7]. In [8] steels with 12% CR, enhanced with Z phase, were tested to determine the
dependence between corrosion and its resistance to creeping. In [9], the mechanical properties, that is, the
stretching and elongation, of ferritic and martensitic steel were tested, depending on the different share of
C, N and W. In another aspect [10], it was proposed to develop ultra-high-strength steels, intended for cold
stamping in the automotive industry, by using special alloy additions. In [11] presents the results of tests
on the strength of steel as a result of the repeated quenching-partitioning-tempering process and
replacement of 1.5% (wt. %) of Si with a 2% (wt. %) Al addition. Also, in [12, 13], martensitic devices,
designed to work in ultra – supercritical- parameters, (T = 620÷650°C, P = 25÷30 MPa) were subjected to
constant tests, obtained as a result of the normalisation process at temperatures above A3 and
tempering at temperatures below A1. In turn, the effect of thermal ageing on mechanical properties and
micro-structure, in low-activation martensitic steel, has been developed [14]. Strength tests of low-
activation martensitic steel, subjected to the ageing process at 550° C over 20,000h, are presented in [15].
The ageing process has also been the subject of work [16]. In [17], micro-structural changes resulting
from shock loads and their influence on the mechanical properties of steel were analysed. The study of
the influence of the quenching process on low-carbon martensitic steel and on micro-structural, tensile
properties, as well as the influence of both susceptibility and bending, were the subjects of research
Page 3/18
described in [18]. The quenching of martensitic steel with chromium, at high temperature and the effect
of this process on tensile strength and the fracture mechanism, were the subject of the research,
presented in [19]. Studies of the influence of the evolution of the micro-structure of steel (16 wt. % Cr; 4.5
Watts.% Ni; 1.6 W.% MO; 0.9 W.% B; 0.6 Watts.% Mn and 0.12 watts.% C) on the improvement of
resistance to corrosion and impact strength, is described in [20]. In [21], the use of low-alloy, martensitic
steel in the friction process, involving silicon nitride, was studied. The process of the quenching and
tempering of martensitic steels was the subject of research in [22], where the influence of the contribution
of carbides on strength properties was determined. Issues related to the tempering of martensite are
presented in [23].
Other studies focus on the micro-structure, where the formation of crystal plasticity, due to temperature
changes, was studied for martensitic steels [24]. Other studies [25] considered the effect of Ti, as a low-
activation, alloying element on the micro-structure and on mechanical properties.
In the literature, studies of the tribological properties of products made of perlitic and martensitic steel
[26] can also be found.
In turn, an overview is presented in [27], of the micro-structures and the mechanisms by which they are
formed by tempering, patched martensite, with low and medium carbon content.
High-strength martensitic steel was subjected to heat treatment by quenching-partitioning-tempering (Q-P-
T). The mechanism that improves both the plasticity and stability of austenite at high temperatures, has
been studied [28].
A new, hybrid approach for describing and simulating the creeping behavior of improved, martensitic
steels is presented in [29].
In [30], the mechanical characteristics of five, low-carbon martensitic steels, tempered over a wide
temperature and time range are presented and the relationship between the mechanical properties,
hardness and the tempering conditions were further analysed.
Quenched martensite, obtained from four different tempering modes, was characterized in [31].
2. Materials And Methods
Steel C45 (1.0503), in accordance with EN 10277-2-2008, refers to high-quality, unalloyed steels for heat
treatment. C45 steel is used for machinery and equipment components with a medium load, such as
spindles, non-hardened gears, axles, shafts, motor shafts, levers, conventional knives, disks, bolts,
corkscrews, wheel hubs, rollers, pump rotors and rods. This steel is easily subjected to hot and cold
plastic processing and belongs to difficult-to-weld steels.
The C45 steel studied was analysed to identify the elements that make up its composition. The
designated chemical composition is shown in Table 1.
Page 4/18
Table 1
Chemical composition of steel C45 under study.
Steel grade Chemical composition [%]
C Mn Si P S Cr Ni Cu Al
C45 0.48 0.71 0.25 0.013 0.023 0.10 0.09 0.18 0.023
Samples, subjected to martensitic quenching, were heated to the austenitisation temperature (850˚C) and
kept at this temperature for 20 minutes and then cooled in an aqueous polymer solution.
For manufactured, martensitic, steel structures, high tempering was undertaken in the temperature range:
500–700oC (every 50oC). The tempering time for each temperature variant was: 15 min, 1 h, 3 h, 9 h, and
23 h. Three samples were allocated for each variant of the processing time period. For each sample, a
tensile test, a hardness test and a structure test were carried out after tempering.
An additional experiment was carried out on the initial structure of the martensitic steel obtained. The test
material was tempered to 850oC and kept at this temperature for 20 minutes. Quenching in the range of
16 temperature options (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750 and
800oC) was conducted for 1 hour.
3. Results
3.1. Structures after the application of heat treatments
After cooling at different speeds and after tempering at different temperatures and times, the structures
are now shown on the summary boards in Fig. 1. Structures after heat treatment were presented at
various magnifications, whereas structures after high tempering were shown at the standard
magnification of 5000x.
3.2. The results of tensile tests
In the tensile test, the main strength parameters (Rm, Rp0.2, A%) characterising the material under study,
were determined, i.e. yield strength Rel or Rp0.2, tensile strength Rm and elongation - A. In those diagrams
where it was possible to determine the yield strength, the value of ReL was determined while where the
graphs did not allow this option, the value of the conditional yield strength Rp0,2 was determined. The
tensile test was performed on a Hegewald & Peschke test machine, model: Inspekt Table 100 in a
company working for the automotive industry. The results of the tensile tests for the specified yield
strength, tensile strength, and elongation limits for the martensitic structure are shown in Tables 2, 3 and
4. The dependence of the average hardness value, on the time and temperature of tempering, is shown in
Fig.s 2, 3 and 4.
Page 5/18
Table 2
Tensile test results for parameter Re or Rp0.2 - martensitic
structure.
Parameter Temp. Tempering time
˚C 15min 1h 3h 9h 23h
Re or 500 1225 1035 1000 980 950
Rp0,2(MPa) 550 960 910 900 830 760
600 900 780 760 700 660
650 770 660 660 600 560
700 605 590 570 535 470
Table 3
Tensile test results for the RM parameter - martensitic structure.
Parameter Temp Tempering time
˚C 15min 1h 3h 9h 23h
Rm (MPa) 500 1289 1085 1045 1021 996
550 1030 968 953 878 819
600 957 839 829 747 714
650 810 715 723 646 617
700 738 636 630 586 546
The dependence of the average tensile strength, on the time and temperature of tempering is shown in
Fig. 3.
Table 4
Tensile test results for the elongation parameter A - martensitic structure
Parameter Temp Tempering time
˚C 15min 1.5 h 3h 4.5 h 12h 23h
A% 500 12.2 12 11.7 12.2 10 9
550 13.5 11.4 13 13.2 13.5 13.2
600 17.1 12.6 13 12.8 14 15.4
650 15.7 17.9 13.5 19.5 18 17.6
700 20.2 21.1 21.5 22.1 21.2 20.1
3.3. Results of micro-hardness measurements
Page 6/18
The results of the micro-hardness measurements for the martensitic structure after tempering are
presented in Table 5.
Table 5
Average values of HV 0.5 micro-hardness
measurements after tempering - martensitic
structure
Temp. in ˚C Tempering time
15' 1h 3h 9h 23h
500 380 351 346 323 318
550 336 311 296 289 268
600 302 278 257 244 237
650 274 249 224 212 205
700 237 223 211 193 185
The dependence of the average hardness value, on the time and temperature of tempering, is shown in
Fig. 4.
3.4. Results of additional experiment
In an additional experiment, tempering for all temperatures was carried out for 1 hour. Quenching was
carried out in a polymer solution after heating the samples to 850°C and maintaining this temperature for
20 minutes. The micro-hardness HV 0.5 of the material before and after the quenching of the martensitic
structure is shown in Table 6.
Table 6
Average values of HV 0.5 micro-hardness measurements before and after quenching - martensitic
structure
Variant Measurement results HV Average HV value
0.5 0.5
Before quenching 308, 288, 312, 306, 301 305
After quenching in an aqueous polymer 654, 656, 663, 651, 660 657
solution
The micro-hardness of the quenched material, after tempering, is shown in Table 7. The average values
were calculated from 5 measurements, after rejecting maximum and minimum values.
Page 7/18
Table 7
Values of HV 0.5 micro-hardness measurements after
tempering - martensitic structure
Temperature 1 2 3 4 5 Average
50 ˚C 649 641 646 640 646 644
100 ˚C 641 661 647 640 655 648
150 ˚C 591 589 584 593 587 589
200 ˚C 565 584 563 560 570 566
250 ˚C 510 512 510 509 511 510
300 ˚C 471 465 478 480 473 474
350 ˚C 405 418 422 420 421 420
400 ˚C 391 391 395 400 392 393
450 ˚C 383 382 386 380 379 381
500 ˚C 359 359 359 360 355 359
550 ˚C 316 314 315 318 315 315
600 ˚C 288 285 290 284 289 287
650 ˚C 252 250 256 251 254 252
700 ˚C 215 233 235 234 229 232
750 ˚C 223 224 226 226 225 228
800 ˚C 215 216 214 214 213 214
4. Discussion
4.1. Changes in particle size when tempering various
source structures
The micro-structure studies, undertaken with a scanning microscope after quenching, in the range of
500÷700˚C, showed that the variability in the size of the globular particles of Fe3C cementite, is in the
range from 8 to 1000 nm.
4.2. The effect of the structure of the output on the
properties
The subject of observations and analyses were, among other things, initial structures: martensite, bainite
and nanoperlite, with an 8% admixture of peredeutectoid ferrite. The highest Rm value was obtained for
Page 8/18
martensite (1196 MPa), while a lower value was found for bainite (936 MPa) with the lowest value of all
being found for nanoperlite (919 MPa).
A comparison of plastic properties (Re and A) indicates that bainitic and nanoperlytic structures have the
lowest properties and that a martensitic structure, with a zero A parameter value, indicates that the
material is very brittle. The change in the characteristics of the material occurs after high tempering. From
martensite, which is a form of ferrite, supersaturated with carbon, globular particles of cementite are
released. Their size increases as a result of coagulation with increasing time and the temperature of the
tempering. The distribution of cementite particles over the entire volume can be estimated as
homogeneous [32].
An indicator of changes in properties and structure, that is, the size of sections that strengthen steel,
results from measurements of micro-hardness. Studies show that the temperature increase has a
stronger effect on the hyperplasia of cementite particles during coagulation than does the time of release.
Therefore, from the point of view of controlling the tempering process, it is better to regulate the
properties by selecting the appropriate temperature of the tempering and secondly, by selecting the time
for the duration of the tempering. Manufacturers of heat-treated parts usually seek to reduce the time
given over to heat treatment. With the data obtained, the necessary temperature and time parameters can
be selected. However, it is necessary not to overdo the time reduction element, so as not to enter the range
of unstable properties that occur with very short treatment times [33].
4.3. Effect of tempering conditions on the final properties
of steel with different output structures
The influence of the tempering conditions and initial structures on the final properties, indicates that the
highest properties were obtained for the martensite structure over short times and low temperatures of
tempering. As the temperature of the tempering increases, differences in the output structures had less
and less of an influence on the levels of Re, Rm and HV0.5 micro-hardness obtained [34].
4.4. Summary of the phenomena that occur during the
tempering of C45 steel
A summary of the phenomena that occur when steel, quenched for martensite is being tempered, has
been provided in a graph, based on an additional experiment discussed in additional experiment.
Samples, with a martensitic structure were kept for 1 hour at various temperatures (at 50˚C intervals) in
the range from 50÷800˚C, after which their micro-hardness was measured.
The resulting curve shows a decrease in hardness with an increase in temperature; this decrease is not
monotonic as the curve is undulatory, in character. This is due to the many phenomena that overlap when
the temperature rises. These phenomena can be observed using dilatometric measurements. They are as
follows (Fig. 5):
during the initial heating period, carbon segregation occurs,
Page 9/18
the secretion of metastable carbide begins above temperatures of approximately 70 ÷ 80 ˚C,
above 210˚C, the process of cementite Fe3C secretion begins and continues until approximately
410˚C. The size of Fe3C secretions obtained in this temperature range does not exceed
approximately 10 nm,
in the range of approximately 220 ÷ 300˚C, which is superimposed on the range of cementite
secretion, the residual austenite is converted into martensite,
above 300˚C, the recovery period of the quenched structure begins and then turns into
polygonisation, which take place in the range of up to approximately 600˚C,
above approximately 410˚C, all the carbon is almost completely secreted and is present only as
cementite with a spherical shape, which, with the increasing temperature of tempering, assumes ever
increasing sizes as a result of the coagulation process. Since the coagulation process is a diffusive
process, increasing the temperature contributes to the growth of particles,
above 600˚C, the phenomenon of recrystallisation occurs, after which the micro-hardness is the
lowest possible and is comparable to the micro-hardness of normalised material. This phenomenon
explains why the impact strength on Fig. 5 falls above 630˚C,
the above temperatures are indicative values, since the temperatures at the beginning and at the end
of each secretion process and the changes occurring in the material depend on the heating rate.
The undulatory nature of the tempering curve, shown in Fig. 5 deviates from the simplified versions,
presented in the literature as a monotonic flow. The results of the measurements of micro-hardness in the
framework of the "additional experiment" seem closer to reality and better reflect the complex nature of
many phenomena that occur during tempering. Therefore, the literature data on the hardening curve
should be considered as fairly indicative information.
5. Conclusions
The significance of the thermal improvement parameters is as follows:
1. In the quenching range:
The austenitisation temperature (before quenching) should be higher than A3.
For each steel grade, the A3 temperature can be read from the Fe-Fe3 C graph. If it is high, it results in
faster austenite homogenisation. However, the disadvantage that then occurs is the coarse-grained
nature of the structure. Hence, it is best to strive for the lowest temperature, just above A3. In practice,
the temperatures used are higher by 30÷50˚C than the temperature of A3. The carbon solubility in
austenite is very high and the carbon diffusion coefficient is also high in the austenitic range, so the
austenitisation temperature should not be too high. It is beneficial if austenite is homogeneous.
Page 10/18
However, any exaggeratedly high temperature of austenitisation sometimes leads to a loss in
product quality.
The austenitisation time is the second factor that affects the production of homogeneous austenite.
This parameter depends very much on the cross-section size of the parts undergoing quenching and
must be selected individually for each type of work.
The cooling speed. After austenitisation, it is beneficial to conduct cooling at the maximum possible
speed allowed for each steel. Too high a speed can lead to quenching cracks as a result of thermal
stresses and the stresses caused by structural transition during cooling.
2. In the tempering range:
Using various, pairing combinations of temperature / time, the same or very similar properties can be
obtained. The tempering temperature has a stronger influence on the change in mechanical
properties than does the tempering time. Tempering time - a very commonly used tempering time is
about 2 hours; this can be reduced, but only if the quenching temperature increases.
The application of thermal improvement processes, using the knowledge obtained in the research
characterised in this work, has been implemented in two case studies of forgings, produced for the
automotive industry. In each of these cases, the general characteristics of the steel, from which these
parts are made, are known, but the parameters of the thermal improvement process were selected
individually and differed in details from the literature data.
References
1. Muhlbauer, A., Von Starck, A. & Kramer, C. Handbook of Thermoprocessing Technologies (Vulkan-
Verlag GmbH, Germany, 2007).
2. Ashby, M. F., Shercliff, H. & Cebon, D. Materials: engineering, science, processing and design
(Butterworth-Heinemann, 2018).
3. Verein Deutscher Eisenhüttenleute ed. Steel: a handbook for materials research and engineering
Vol. 2 (Springer, 1993).
4. Krauss, G. Steels: processing, structure, and performance (Asm International, 2015).
5. Dossett, J. L. & Boyer, H. E. Practical heat treating (Asm International, 2006).
6. Galindo-Nava, E. I. & Rivera-Díaz-del-Castillo, P. E. J. Understanding the factors controlling the
hardness in martensitic steels. Scripta Mater, 110, 96–100 (2016).
7. Jia, Q. et al. Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser welded dissimilar joints between QP
and boron alloyed martensitic steels. Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 259, 58–67
(2018).
Page 11/18
8. Rashidi, M., Johansson, L., Andrén, H. O. & Liu, F. 2017. Microstructure and mechanical properties of
two Z-phase strengthened 12% Cr martensitic steels: the effects of Cu and C. Materials Science and
Engineering: A, 694, pp.57–65.
9. Puype, A., Malerba, L., De Wispelaere, N., Petrov, R. & Sietsma, J. Effect of W and N on mechanical
properties of reduced activation ferritic/martensitic EUROFER-based steel grades. Journal of Nuclear
Materials, 502, 282–288 (2018).
10. Hojo, T., Kobayashi, J., Sugimoto, K. I., Nagasaka, A. & Akiyama, E. 2020. Effects of Alloying Elements
Addition on Delayed Fracture Properties of Ultra High-Strength TRIP-Aided Martensitic Steels. Metals,
10(1), p.6.
11. Zhang, J. et al. Effect of Al replacing Si on mechanical properties of high carbon Q–P–T martensitic
steels. Heat Treatment and Surface Engineering, 1 (1–2), 17–22 (2019).
12. Fedoseeva, A., Nikitin, I., Dudova, N. & Kaibyshev, R. 2017, December. Effect of normalizing and
tempering on structure and mechanical properties of advanced martensitic 10% Cr–3% Co–0.2% Re
steel. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 1909, No. 1, p. 020049). AIP Publishing LLC.
13. Fedoseeva, A., Nikitin, I., Dudova, N. & Kaibyshev, R. 2018, December. Short-term creep of advanced
re-containing 10% Cr–3% Co–3% W martensitic steel at elevated temperature. In AIP Conference
Proceedings (Vol. 2051, No. 1, p. 020083). AIP Publishing LLC.
14. Wang, W., Liu, S., Xu, G., Zhang, B. & Huang, Q. Effect of thermal aging on microstructure and
mechanical properties of China low-activation martensitic steel at 550 C. Nuclear Engineering and
Technology, 48 (2), 518–524 (2016).
15. Wang, W., Mao, X., Liu, S., Xu, G. & Wang, B. Microstructure evolution and toughness degeneration of
9Cr martensitic steel after aging at 550° C for 20000 h. Journal of materials science, 53 (6), 4574–
4581 (2018).
16. Xu, Y., Nie, Y., Wang, M., Li, W. & Jin, X. The effect of microstructure evolution on the mechanical
properties of martensite ferritic steel during long-term aging. Acta Mater, 131, 110–122 (2017).
17. Aydogan, E. et al. S. and 2016. Effect of shock loading on the microstructure, mechanical properties
and grain boundary characteristics of HT-9 ferritic/martensitic steels. Materials Science and
Engineering: A, 651, pp.75–82.
18. Kim, S. I., Seo, S. J. & Suh, I. S. 2018. Effect of Tempering on Bendability and Impact Property of Hot
Rolled Low-Carbon Martensitic Steel. In Materials Science Forum (Vol. 941,pp. 474–479).Trans Tech
Publications Ltd.
19. Xiao, B., Xu, L., Zhao, L., Jing, H. & Han, Y. Tensile mechanical properties, constitutive equations, and
fracture mechanisms of a novel 9% chromium tempered martensitic steel at elevated temperatures.
Materials Science and Engineering: A, 690, 104–119 (2017).
20. Fang, J. X. et al. Microstructure and properties of an as-deposited and heat treated martensitic
stainless steel fabricated by direct laser deposition. Journal of Manufacturing Processes, 25, 402–
410 (2017).
Page 12/18
21. Li, C., Deng, X., Huang, L., Jia, Y. & Wang, Z. 2020. Effect of temperature on microstructure, properties
and sliding wear behavior of low alloy wear-resistant martensitic steel. Wear, 442, p.203125.
22. Teagho, F. T., Maziere, M., Tankoua, F., Galtier, A. & Gourgues-Lorenzon, A. F. The Effect of
Microstructure Constituents on the Static and Dynamic Fracture Behavior of High Strength Quenched
and Tempered Martensitic Steels. Procedia Structural Integrity, 13, 763–768 (2018).
23. Guerra-Fuentes, L., Hernandez-Rodriguez, M. A. L., Zambrano-Robledo, P., Salinas-Rodriguez, A. &
Garcia-Sanchez, E. Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Tempered High Cr Martensitic
Steel. Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance, 26 (7), 3500–3506 (2017).
24. Yu, L., Xiao, X., Chen, L., Cheng, Y. & Duan, H. A hierarchical theoretical model for mechanical
properties of lath martensitic steels. International Journal of Plasticity, 111, 135–151 (2018).
25. Lee, C. H. et al. Microstructure and tensile and Charpy impact properties of reduced activation
ferritic–martensitic steel with Ti. Fusion Engineering and Design, 124, 953–957 (2017).
26. Stawicki, T., Białobrzeska, B. & Kostencki, P. 2017. Tribological properties of plough shares made of
pearlitic and martensitic steels. Metals, 7(4), p.139.
27. Krauss, G. 2017. Tempering of lath martensite in low and medium carbon steels: assessment and
challenges. steel research international, 88(10), p.1700038.
28. Zhang, K. et al. 2019. The Mechanism of High-Strength Quenching-Partitioning-Tempering
Martensitic Steel at Elevated Temperatures. Crystals, 9(2), p.94.
29. Yadav, S. D., Sonderegger, B., Stracey, M. & Poletti, C. Modelling the creep behaviour of tempered
martensitic steel based on a hybrid approach. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 662, 330–341
(2016).
30. Malheiros, L. C., Rodriguez, E. P. & Arlazarov, A. Mechanical behavior of tempered martensite:
Characterization and modeling. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 706, 38–47 (2017).
31. Saha, D. C., Biro, E., Gerlich, A. P. & Zhou, Y. Effects of tempering mode on the structural changes of
martensite. Materials Science and Engineering: A, 673, 467–475 (2016).
32. Spätig, P., Chen, J. C. & Odette, G. R. 2019. Ferritic and Tempered Martensitic Steels. In Structural
Alloys for Nuclear Energy Applications (pp. 485–527).Elsevier.
33. Parker, J. D. & Siefert, J. A. The creep and fracture behaviour of tempered martensitic steels.
Materials at High Temperatures, 35 (6), 491–503 (2018).
34. Eisenhüttenleute, V. D. Steel: a handbook for materials research and engineering. 1. Fundamentals
(Springer, 1992).
Figures
Page 13/18
Figure 1
Spheroidite structures after the high tempering of martensite (magnification 5000 x).
Page 14/18
Figure 2
The 3D graph of the relation between the mean yield point and the tempering time and the temperature
for a martensitic structure.
Page 15/18
Figure 3
The 3D graph of the relation between the mean yield point and the tempering time and the temperature
for a martensitic structure.
Page 16/18
Figure 4
The 3D graph of the relation between the mean yield point and the tempering time and the temperature
for a martensitic structure.
Page 17/18
Figure 5
Graph of the influence of temperature on the value of micro-hardness HV 0,5.
Page 18/18
