Effects of Ultra Fast Cooling on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Pipeline Steels

Abstract

X70 (steel A) and X80 (steel B) pipeline steels were fabricated by ultra fast cooling (UFC). UFC processing improves not only ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS), yield ratio (YS/UTS), and total elongation of both steels, but also their Charpy absorbed energy (AK) as well. The microstructures of both steels were all composed of quasi polygonal, acicular ferrite (AF), and granular bainite. MA islands (the mixtures of brittle martensite and residual austenite) are more finely dispersed in steel B, and the amount of AF in steel B is much more than that in steel A. The strength of steel B is higher than that of steel A. This is mainly attributed to the effect of the ferrite grain refinement which is resulted from UFC processing. The finely dispersed MA islands not only provide dispersion strengthening, but also reduce loss of impact properties to pipeline steels. UFC produces low-temperature transformation microstructures containing larger amounts of AFs. The presence of AF is a crucial factor in achieving desired mechanical properties for both steels. It is suggested that the toughness of the experimental steel increases with increasing the amount of AF.