Effects of quenching process on mechanical properties and microstructure of high strength steel

Abstract

The effects of direct quenching and tempering (DQ-T) process and conventional reheat quenching and tempering (RQ-T) processes on mechanical properties and microstructure of high strength steel were investigated. The DQ process was found to enhance the hardenability of steel effectively. The tensile strength and yield strength of DQ specimen was 975 MPa and 925 MPa respectively, which were higher than those of RQ specimen’s of 920 MPa and 871 MPa. In contrast, low temperature toughness (−40 °C, AKV) of DQ-T specimen (124 J) was generally inferior to that of RQ-T specimen (156 J). The direct quenching temperature was one of the potential process parameters to determine strength/toughness balance of steel manufactured by DQ process. The experimental results showed that excellent strength/toughness balance was obtained when the specimens was quenched at temperature in the range of 850–910 °C. The yield strength and impact energy (−40 °C) of DQ steel decreased significantly with increasing of quenching temperature, although the tensile strength was nearly stable.