Improving mechanical properties in high-carbon pearlitic steels by replacing partial V with Nb

Abstract

The effects of combined addition of niobium (Nb) and vanadium (V) on the transformation, microstructure and mechanical properties of high-carbon pearlitic steels were investigated. In-situ observations on a high-temperature laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) were conducted to study the pearlitic transformation, the results from which indicate that single V or combined Nb and V addition led to higher transformation temperature and more pearlitic nucleation sites. But the growth rate of pearlite was significantly impeded due to the smaller diffusion coefficient of carbon, resulting in the refinement of the interlamellar spacing and nodule size of pearlite. In addition, compared to the base steel, single V addition in high carbon pearlitic steels was beneficial to the increase of strength, but it deteriorated the toughness, whereas the composited addition of Nb and V resulted in the increase of strength without the expense of the toughness. It is concluded that replacing part V with similar content of Nb is very promising since the impact toughness of the Nb + V steel is increased by 21% without the expense of the strength compared to the V-microalloyed steel. Nb and V strengthened pearlitic steels primarily due to the precipitation of M(C,N), thinner pearlite interlamellar spacing and smaller pearlite nodule size. Compared to the V steel, the improvement of toughness in Nb + V steel was mainly attributed to the smaller nodule size and more uniform grain size distribution. In summary, under the premise of similar microalloying element amount in high-carbon (∼0.77 wt%) pearlitic steels, replacing part V with Nb is beneficial to obtain the finest microstructure and the best comprehensive mechanical properties.