Influence of Initial Microstructure on Mechanical Properties of Cu Bearing Extra Low Carbon Steel Sheets

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of initial microstructure after hot rolling on the final microstructure and mechanical properties for Cu bearing Extra Low Carbon(ELC) Steel Sheets. For this purpose, two ELC steels having different initial microstructures due to different onset time of cooling after pilot hot rolling (0.4 and 1.2 second) were selected. Mechanical properties and microstructures were analyzed as well using uni-axial tensile test, electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) technique following pilot rolling and continuous annealing. It has been found that the reduction of onset time of cooling gives rise to the grain refinement in hot rolled sheets. The average grain sizes of hot rolled sheetss at the onset time of 0.4 and 1.2 second are 16.7μm and 20.8 μm, respectively. In addition, the planar anisotropy of the Cu bearing ELC steel sheets has improved with reducing onset time of cooling after hot rolling. However, other mechanical properties such as strength and elongation of annealed steel are similar to both cooling condition.