Hanghang Liu

Different austenitizing temperatures were used to obtain medium-carbon low-alloy (MCLA) martensitic steels with different lath martensite microstructures. The hierarchical microstructures of lath martensite were investigated by optical microscopy (OM), electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that with increasing the austenitizing temperature, the prior austenite grain size and block size increased, while the lath width decreased. Further, the yield strength and tensile strength increased due to the enhancement of the grain boundary strengthening. The fitting results reveal that only the relationship between lath width and strength followed the Hall–Petch formula of. Hence, we propose that lath width acts as the effective grain size (EGS) of strength in MCLA steel. In addition, the carbon content had a significant effect on the EGS of martensitic strength. In steels with lower carbon content, block size acted as the EGS, while, in steels with higher carbon content, the EGS changed to lath width. The effect of the Cottrell atmosphere around boundaries may be responsible for this change.

The strength-toughness combination and hardness uniformity in large cross-section 718H pre-hardened mold steel from a 20 ton ingot were investigated with three different heat treatments for industrial applications. The different microstructures, including tempered martensite, lower bainite, and retained austenite, were obtained at equivalent hardness. The microstructures were characterized by using metallographic observations, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The mechanical properties were compared by tensile, Charpy U-notch impact and hardness uniformity tests at room temperature. The results showed that the test steels after normalizing-quenching-tempering (N-QT) possessed the best strength-toughness combination and hardness uniformity compared with the conventional quenched-tempered (QT) steel. In addition, the test steel after austempering-tempering (A-T) demonstrated the worse hardness uniformity and lower yield strength while possessing relatively higher elongation (17%) compared with the samples after N-QT (14.5%) treatments. The better ductility of A-T steel mainly depended on the amount and morphology of retained austenite and thermal/deformation-induced twined martensite. This work elucidates the mechanisms of microstructure evolution during heat treatments and will highly improve the strength-toughness-hardness trade-off in large cross-section steels.

Effects of tempering temperature on the microstructures and low temperature impact toughness of 42CrMo4-V steel were investigated. Microstructures of 42CrMo4-V steel after tempering at 570–720 °C for 3 h were experimentally investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the carbide precipitation sequence of 42CrMo4-V steel is M₈C₇ → M₃C and the absorbed energies of 42CrMo4-V steel increase greatly from 21.7 J to 132.3 J with increasing tempering temperature from 570 °C to 720 °C. The changes of impact toughness with increasing tempering temperature were attributed to the softening of matrix, the evolution of carbide precipitates and grain structures.

Studies of 4Cr5MoSiV1 die steel suggest that under appropriate conditions, additions of rare earth (RE) can enhance tensile property. This improvement is apparently due to the more uniform distribution of carbides and the enhancement of precipitation strengthening after RE additions. In this present work, the effect of the RE addition on the carbides evolution and tensile property of 4Cr5MoSiV1 steel with various RE contents (0, 0.018, 0.048 and 0.15 wt %) were systematically investigated. The two-dimensional detection techniques such as optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to investigate the carbides evolution of as-cast, annealed and tempered with RE addition. The results indicated that the carbides in 4Cr5MoSiV1 steels were modified by adding the suitable amount of RE. The eutectic structure and coarse eutectic carbides were all refining and the morphology of the annealed carbides initiated change from strip shape to ellipsoidal shape compared with the unmodified test steel (0RE). In addition, the amount of the tempered M₈C₇ carbides increased initially and then decreased with the alteration of RE addition from 0.018 to 0.15 wt %. Notably, the tensile test indicated that the average value of ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation rate of 0.048RE steel increased slightly to 1474 MPa and 15%, higher than the 1452 MPa and 12% for the unmodified test steel (0RE), respectively. Such an addition of RE (0.048 wt %) would have a significant effect on the carbides evolution of as-cast, annealed and tempered and resulting in the tensile property of 4Cr5MoSiV1 die steel.