Abstract
The paper is focused on investigation of the high-strength AISI 4340 steel at various temperature and deformation conditions. The article is divided into two specific analyses. The first is to examine the dilatation behavior of the steel at eight different cooling rates, namely, 100, 10, 5, 1, 0.5, 0.1, 0.05 and 0.01 °C·s−1. The mapping of the phase transformations due to varying cooling rates from the austenitizing temperature of 850 °C allows the construction of the CCT diagram for a given high-strength steel. These dilatation curves were also compared with the metallography of the selected samples for the proper construction of the CCT diagram. A further analysis of the high temperature deformation of high strength steel AISI 4340 was performed in the range of temperature 900–1200 °C, and the strain rate was in the range from 0.001 to 10 s−1 with maximum value of the true strain 0.9. Changes in the microstructure were observed using light optical microscopy (LOM). The effect of hot deformation temperature on true stress, peak stress and true strain was investigated. The hardness of all deformed samples, depending on the temperature, the deformation rate and the peak stress σp overall together related with hardness, has also been evaluated.
Highlights
Deformation and dilatometric analysis are nowadays a widespread method for evaluating changes in the microstructure in steels, and at the same time they are associated with changes in the resulting mechanical properties [1]
The first goal of this paper is to investigate phase transformations of AISI 4340 high strength steel depending on the different cooling conditions
The results showed that in the experimental steel AISI 4340, the start temperature of Ac1 was 725 ◦ C, and the final temperature of austenite formation Ac3 was 763 ◦ C
Summary
Deformation and dilatometric analysis are nowadays a widespread method for evaluating changes in the microstructure in steels, and at the same time they are associated with changes in the resulting mechanical properties [1]. Phase changes are the main goal of these measurements in the case of dilatometric examination. The influence of the heating rate on the austenitic temperature and its subsequent holding time plays a very important role in the dilatometry process [2]. Low or medium alloy steels, which are classified as ferritic steels, are investigated [5,6]. The investigated steel AISI 4340 is classified as a medium alloy steel, the main alloys are Ni, Cr, Mo, V. Due to its mechanical properties and high strength, the investigated steel belongs to special high-strength steels, which are used for manufacturing of military equipment
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