Influence of grain size and precipitation on hot ductility of microalloyed steels

Abstract

The influence of grain size on the hot ducility of microalloyed steels (C–Mn–Al, C–Mn–V–Al, and C–Mn–Nb–Al) has been determined by heating them above their solution temperatures and cooling to the test temperature of 850°C. The C–Mn–Al steel showed excellent hot ductility which was independent of grain size. Dynamic recrystallization readily occurred and there was no evidence for AlN precipitation. Marked dynamic precipitation occurred during the tensile test for vanadium- and niobium-containing steels but this did not vary significantly with reheating temperature, provided complete dissolution of the precipitates had occurred. Isolating the influence of grain size from that of precipitation in these steels showed that a change in grain size from 150 to 300 μm reduced the reduction of area values by 15–20%. Precipitate distribution was also varied by heating to temperatures in the range 850–1330°C and tensile testing at 850°C. When present before testing at the γ grain boundaries in the form of a fine grain-refining precipitate, AlN reduced the hot ductility in the C–Mn–Al steel and delayed the onset of dynamic recrystallization. Coarser precipitates produced by raising the reheating temperature allowing dynamic recrystallization to occur gave improved ductility. For the niobium- and vanadium-containing steels, precipitate distributions which were in a coarse randomly precipitated form gave the best hot ductility. These occurred with the niobium-containing steel when heated to 1100°C and more generally in the vanadium-containing steel throughout a wide temperature range. The worst precipitate distribution occurred in the niobium containing steel when the NbCN was taken into solution before testing and reprecipitated in a fine form at the γ grain boundaries and within the matrix during the test.MST/490