• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.87-92
• /
• 2020

This study deals with the effects of austempering time on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ultra-high strength nanostructured bainitic steels with high carbon and silicon contents. The steels are composed of bainite, martensite and retained austenite by austempering and quenching. As the duration of austempering increases, the thickness of bainitic ferrite increases, but the thickness of retained austenite decreases. Some retained austenites with lower stability are more easily transformed to martensite during tensile testing, which has a detrimental effect on the elongation due to the brittleness of transformed martensite. With increasing austempering time, the hardness decreased and then remained stable because the transformation to nanostructured bainite compensates for the decrease in the volume fraction of martensite. Charpy impact test results indicated that increasing austempering time improved the impact toughness because the formation of brittle martensite was prevented by the decreased fraction and increased stability of retained austenite.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.390-396
• /
• 1992

In this study, we investigated effect of austempering factors and Mn addition on mechanical properties of ADI with ferrite-bainite matrix by pearlite-bainite transformation treatment. Ductile cast iron specimens containing various of Mn were austenitized at 875$^{\circ}C$ for 350 sec or 925$^{\circ}C$ for 160 sec and then austempered at 300$^{\circ}C$ or 400$^{\circ}C$ for the various periods(5 to 30 min). Manganese increased pearlite volume fraction in as cast ductile cast iron. The obtained results are as follows ; 1) In austenitizing, hardness of sepecimens austenitized at 875$^{\circ}C$ for 350 sec was higher than that of 925$^{\circ}C$ for 160 sec. 2) In effect of austempering temperature, tensile strength and handness of specimens austempered at 300$^{\circ}C$ was higher than that of 400$^{\circ}C$. However, elongation had reverse tendency. 3) Increasing austempering time decreased hardness due to the increment of bainite and retained austenite fractions. However, toughness are increased.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.273-281
• /
• 2008

Effects of alloying elements on the mechanical properties of hardened and austempered 3.60wt%C - 2.50wt%C ductile cast iron were investigated. Strength and hardness were increased and ductility was decreased as the amount of alloying element increased. The increasing effect of copper addition on the strength was the most pronounced. The strength and hardness were greatly increased and ductility was decreased by hardening. The effect of alloying element on the mechanical properties of the hardened ductile cast iron was not so pronounced due to the high contents of C and Si. The strength and hardness of austempered ductile cast iron were greatly increased, meanwhile the difference of strength from that of hardened one was not so big. The ductility of the former was higher than that of the latter. The strength and ductility of austempered ductile cast iron with 0.25%Mn were the maximum of all Mn added ones. The maximum strength of that was obtained with the addition of 0.80wt%Cu or 2.00wt%Ni along with this amount of Mn added.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.396-401
• /
• 2023

Aus-tempering heat treatment is suitable for thin and small-sized in precision parts. However, the heat treatment process relies on the experience and skill of the operator, making it challenging to produce precision parts due to the cold forging process. The aims of this study is to explore suitable machine learning models using data from the aus-tempering heat treatment process and analyze the factors that significantly impact the mechanic properties (e.g. hardness). As a result, the study analyzed, from a machine learning perspective, how hardness prediction varies based on the quenching temperature, carbon (C), and copper (Cu) contents.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.292-300
• /
• 2020

In this study, the effect of tempering on the stretch-flangeability is investigated in 980 MPa grade dual-phase steel consisting of ferrite and martensite phases. During tempering at 300 ℃, the strength of ferrite increases due to the pinning of dislocations by carbon atoms released from martensite, while martensite is softened as a consequence of a reduction in its carbon super-saturation. This strength variation results in a considerable increase in yield strength of the steel, without loss of tensile strength. The hole expansion test shows that steel tempered for 20 min (T20 steel) exhibits a higher hole expansion ratio than that of steel without tempering (T0 steel). In T0 steel, severe plastic localization in ferrite causes easy pore formation at the ferrite-martensite interface and subsequent brittle crack propagation through the highly deformed ferrite area during hole expansion testing; this propagation is mainly attributed to the large difference in hardness between ferrite and martensite. When the difference in hardness is not so large (T20 steel), on the other hand, tempered martensite can be considerably deformed together with ferrite, thereby delaying pore formation and hindering crack propagation by crack blunting. Eventually, these different deformation and fracture behaviors contribute to the superior stretch-flangeability of T20 steel.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 2018

This study examined the effect of the heat treatment and alloying elements (B, Ti) on the microstructures and mechanical properties of API J55 steel. The experiments were carried out using various austenization temperatures ($880^{\circ}C$, $910^{\circ}C$, $940^{\circ}C$), cooling methods (water quenching, oil quenching) and tempering temperatures (none, $550^{\circ}C$, $650^{\circ}C$) with J55 and J55+B,Ti steels. The phase diagram and CCT curve were simulated based on the chemical compositions of the J55 and J55+B,Ti steels to predict the microstructures. The results showed that the A1 and A3 temperatures decreased and, as a result, the noses of the ferrite and bainite parts of the CCT curve moved to the right. Various microstructures were formed, namely martensite, bainite, ferrite and pearlite, in accordance with the heat treatment, which had an effect on the hardness, tensile strength and toughness. Martensite was formed after water quenching, but bainite and ferrite appeared after oil quenching with the J55 specimens. On the other hand, martensite was formed, regardless of the cooling method (water quenching, oil quenching), with the J55+B,Ti specimens, because of the improvement of the hardenability caused by the addition of boron. Therefore, the J55+B,Ti specimens exhibited much higher mechanical properties than the J55 specimens, even after the tempering treatment, since the addition of Ti caused fine precipitates to be formed, which inhibited grain growth at the recrystallization temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.84-93
• /
• 2007

Microstructural changes during tempering at the temperature range of $300^{\circ}C{\sim}700^{\circ}C$ for the nitrogen-permeated STS 410 and 410L martensitic stainless steels has been investigated. After nitrogen permeation at temperature between 1050 and $1150^{\circ}C$, the surface layer appeared fine $Cr_2N$ of square and rod types in the martensite matrices. Hardness of the nitrogen-permeated surface layer represented 680Hv and 625Hv, respectively, for 410 and 410L steels. It is considered that the fine homogeneously dispersive effect of precipitates by nitrogen caused the increased hardness. Due to the counter current effect of carbon from interior to surface during nitrogen diffusion from surface to interior, the 0.1%C alloyed 410 steel showed the low nitrogen content of 0.025% compared with 0.045% of 410L steel at the distance of $100{\mu}m$ from the surface. Tempering of nitrogen-alloyed 410 and 410L showed the maximum hardness at $450^{\circ}C$. This maximum hardness was considered to be the secondary hardening effect of very fine carbide and nitride. The decrease in hardness at $700^{\circ}C$ was the softening effect of the matrix due to the precipitation of many needle-shaped $Cr_2N$ for 410 steel and the precipitation of coarse nitride of $Cr_2N$ in line with the spherical precipitates with directionality for 410L steel. For 410 steel, the corrosion resistance of nitrogen permeated surface in the solution of 1 N $H_2SO_4$ were nearly unchanged, however the superior corrosion resistance was obtained for nitrogen permeated 410L steel compared to the solution annealed condition.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.56 no.11
• /
• pp.787-795
• /
• 2018

The effects of tempering condition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 30MnB5 hot stamping steel were investigated in this study. Before the tempering, hot-stamped 30MnB5 steel was composed of only ${\alpha}^{\prime}$-martensite microstructure without precipitates. After the tempering at $180^{\circ}C$ for 120 min, nano-sized ${\varepsilon}$-carbides were precipitated in the ${\alpha}^{\prime}$-martensite laths. After tempering at $250^{\circ}C$ for 60 min, cementite was precipitated along the ${\alpha}^{\prime}$-martensite lath boundaries. The cementite was also observed in the specimens tempered at $350^{\circ}C$ for 30 min and $450^{\circ}C$ for 6 min, respectively. The globular ${\alpha}$-ferrite appeared at $350^{\circ}C-30min$ tempering, and the volume fraction of ${\alpha}$-ferrite increased when the tempering temperature was increased. The yield strength increased after tempering, and it reached a peak with the tempering condition of $180^{\circ}C-120min$, due to the nano-sized precipitates in the ${\alpha}^{\prime}$-martensite lath. After the tempering, the steel's ultimate tensile strength (UTS) was decreased due to the reduction in dislocation density and C segregation to lath boundaries. The highest elongation was observed at the $180^{\circ}C-120min$ tempering condition, due to the reduction of residual stress, and the lack of precipitates along the lath boundaries. The $180^{\circ}C-120min$ tempering condition was considered to have outstanding crash performance, according to toughness and anti-intrusion calculation results. In drop tower crash tests, the 30MnB5 door impact beam tempered at $180^{\circ}C$ for 120 min showed better crash performance compared to a 22MnB5 door impact beam.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.104-108
• /
• 2012

The effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties of 0.4C-2.3Si(wt%) steel with bainitic ferrite matrix were investigated. This steel has been synthesized intergrating concepts from TRIP(Transformation Induced Plasticity) steel & Austempered Ductile Cast Iron(ADI) technology. The low alloy medium carbon (0.4 %C) steel with high silicon (2.3 %Si) was initially annealed for 60 min at $800^{\circ}C$, $820^{\circ}C$ and $840^{\circ}C$ respectively in the intercritical region and then subsequently austempered at various temperatures at $260^{\circ}C$, $320^{\circ}C$ and $380^{\circ}C$ for 30 min in a salt bath. The mechanical properties were measured by using a tensile test. A detailed study of the microstructure of this steel after heat treatment was carried out by means of electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD) technic. In this study, a new low alloy steel with high strength (780~1,050MPa) and exceptionally high ductility (20~40%) was obtained.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.60-65
• /
• 2010

In this study, we investigate the effects of austempering heat treatment on the processing window and mechanical properties in cast and hot-rolled Fe-0.7 C-2.3 Si-0.3 Mn steel. Each specimens were austenitised at $900^{\circ}C$ for 7 min, and austempered at $260^{\circ}C,\;320^{\circ}C$, and $380^{\circ}C$ for the various periods of time from 2 min to 240 min. After heat treatment, the evaluation of stage I and stage II as performed by optical metallography, XRD, hardness test. Both cast and hot rolled specimens had similar processing window. So grain size effect is not important to the austempered high carbon high silicon cast steel. When the austempering temperature was $260^{\circ}C$, the microstructure consisted of the lower ausferrite while the upper ausferrite structure was formed at $380^{\circ}C$. As the austempering temperature increases from 260 to $380^{\circ}C$, the strength and hardness decreased, elongaton and volume fraction of austenite increased. In addition, there was no change of mechanical properties between cast and hot-rolled specimens.