Effect of prior-austenite grain refinement on microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal embrittlement of 9Cr-1Mo-0.1C steel

Abstract

The effect of ‘conventional normalizing and tempering’ (CNT) and ‘double austenitization based normalizing and tempering’ (DNT) heat treatments on the microstructure, tensile, creep and impact toughness properties of 9Cr-1Mo steel has been studied. The tempered martensite microstructure obtained through DNT treatment exhibited smaller sizes of prior-austenite grains/martensite packets (28 μm/11 μm) compared to the CNT treatment (44 μm/14 μm). The tempered martensite morphology was largely retained after long-term thermal aging at 550 °C/5000 h, while the M23C6 and M2(C,N) type of precipitates were found to act as nucleation sites for precipitation of brittle Fe2Mo Laves phase. The grain refinement by DNT was found to be beneficial for minimizing the ductile-to-brittle transition characteristics (25 °C lower ductile-to-brittle transition temperature and 70 J higher upper shelf energy) over the CNT. Thermal embrittlement occurred in both heated treated steels, but the transition temperature of aged DNT steel remained below room temperature. Fractured Charpy specimens revealed ductile failure by void coalescence for high temperature tests, and a quasi-cleavage fracture at low temperatures with few isolated occurrence of intergranular crack in thermal embrittled steel. The DNT treated steel resulted in similar or better tensile and creep properties, when compared to the CNT treatment. The homogeneous fine grained tempered martensite microstructure obtained by DNT treatment resulted in improved embrittlement resistance and mechanical properties over the conventional treatment.