Microstructure and mechanical properties of hot-rolled low-carbon steel containing Ti–Ca oxide particles: a comparison between base metal and HAZ

Abstract

The effect of inclusion-induced nucleation on hot-rolled steel base metal was evaluated in comparison with welding heat-affected zone (HAZ). Microstructure and mechanical properties of hot-rolled low-carbon steel containing Ti–Ca oxide particles were studied. The results showed that inclusions in Ti–Ca deoxidized steel distributed dispersely and were effective for intragranular acicular ferrite nucleation. Under hot rolling and controlled cooling conditions, microstructure in steel base metal was significantly refined and mainly consisted of acicular ferrite and intragranular bainite, which exhibited higher strength and excellent toughness. The microstructural evolution behavior followed the process that acicular ferrite plates divided the austenite grain, intragranular bainite packets formed between interlocking acicular ferrite plates, and the remaining austenite decomposed into fine polygonal ferrite grains. The resultant complex microstructure improved the impact toughness significantly. By comparison, in HAZ microstructure, laminar grain boundary ferrite having similar crystallography orientation showed adverse effect on toughness.