Precipitation model in microalloyed steels both isothermal and continuous cooling conditions

Abstract

Niobium and vanadium precipitates (nitrides and carbides) can inhibit the static recrystallization of austenite but this does not happen for Ti, which form nitrides at high temperatures. RPTT diagrams show the interaction between recrystallization and precipitation allowing study the strain induced precipitation kinetics and precipitate coarsening. Based on Dutta and Sellars’s expression for the start of strain-induced precipitation in microalloyed steels, a new model has been constructed which takes into account the influence of variables such as microalloying element percentages, strain, temperature, strain rate and grain size. Recrystallization- Precipitation-Time-Temperature (RPTT) diagrams have been plotted thanks to a new experimental study carried out by means of hot torsion tests on approximately twenty microalloyed steels with different Nb, V and Ti contents. Mathematical analysis of the results recommends the modification of some parameters such as the supersaturation ratio (ks) and constant B, which is no longer a constant but a function of ks. The expressions are now more consistent and predict the Precipitation-Time-Temperature (PTT) curves with remarkable accuracy. The model for strain-induced precipitation kinetics is completed by means of Avrami’s equation. Finally, the model constructed in isothermal testing conditions, it has been converted to continuous cooling conditions in order to apply it in hot rolling.