• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.216-221
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• 2004

Linepipe steels with a low carbon acicular ferrite microstructure have been recently developed to accommodate the current transportation condition of the gas and oil industry, and they are finally applied to West- East pipeline project in China. By adopting acicular microstructure, both better formability and better toughness could be obtained due to low yield ratio and fine grained microstructure. Mechanical properties of pipe are not greatly different from those of base plates or hot coils with a microstructure of acicular ferrite. Merits of introducing higher strength steels are well known, i.e., reducing the gauge of pipe and the material cost, increasing the welding speed and decreasing construction cost because of reducing the construction period. Threfore, gas and oil industry has required higher strength steel than APIX70 grade steel. Under this background, API-X80 steel has been developed and shall be applied to the several projects. In this paper, developing stage of API-X80 steel is also presented and discussed.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.10
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• pp.766-773
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• 2011

In this study, three kinds of linepipe steels were processed by changing the amount of Mo and Nb to investigate the effects on microstructures, tensile and Charpy impact properties. All the specimens consisted of acicular ferrite, granular bainite and secondary phases such as martensite and austenite constituents (MA). The increase in Mo raised the volume fractions of the granular bainite and MA, and raised the number of fine precipitates, which increased the yield and tensile strengths and decreased the upper self energy and energy transition temperatures. In the steel having less Mo and more Nb, the volume fractions of the granular bainite and MA decreased, and a finer microstructure was observed. This microstructure suppressed the formation of separation during Charpy impact testing and led to a higher upper shelf energy and lower energy transition temperature, while the yield and tensile strengths were lower than those of the steels with more Mo and less Nb.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.199-208
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• 2008

This study is concerned with effects of complex oxides on Charpy impact toughness of heat affected zone (HAZ) of API X80 linepipe steels. Three kinds of steels were fabricated by varying alloying elements such as Ti, Al, and Mg and hot-rolling conditions to form complex oxides, and their microstructures and Charpy impact properties were investigated. The number of complex oxides present in the steel containing excess Ti, Al, and Mg was twice larger than that in the conventional steels, while their size ranged from 1 to $3{\mu}m$ in the three steels. After the HAZ simulation test, the steel containing a number of oxides contained about 20 vol.% of acicular ferrite in the simulated HAZ, together with bainitic ferrite and martensite, whereas the HAZ microstructure of the conventional steels consisted of bainitic ferrite and martensite with a small amount of acicular ferrite. This formation of acicular ferrite in the oxide-containing steel was associated with the nucleation of acicular ferrite at complex oxides, thereby leading to the great (five times or more) improvement of Charpy impact toughness over the conventional steels.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.8-18
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• 2010

This study aimed at investigating quasi-static and dynamic torsional deformation behavior of three API X70 and X80 linepipe steels. Quasi-static and dynamic torsional tests were conducted on these steels. having different grain sizes and volume fractions of acicular ferrite and polygonal ferrite, using a torsional Kolsky bar. The test data were then compared via microstructures and adiabatic shear band formation,. The dynamic torsional test results indicated that the steels rolled in the single phase region had higher maximum shear stress than the steel rolled in the two phase region, because the microstructures of the steel rolled in the single phase region were composed mainly of acicular ferrites. In the X80 steel rolled in the single phase region, the increased dynamic torsional properties could be explained by a decrease in the overall effective grain size due to the presence of acicular ferrite having smaller effective grain size. The possibility of adiabatic shear band formation was analyzed from the energy required for void initiation and variation in effective grain size.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.12
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• pp.788-799
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• 2008

This study is concerned with the effects of Mo, Cr, and V addition on tensile and Charpy impact properties of API X80 linepipe steels. Four kinds of steels were processed by varying Mo, Cr, and V additions, and their microstructures and tensile and Charpy impact properties were investigated. Since the addition of Mo and V promoted to form fine acicular ferrite and granular bainite, while prohibiting the coarsening of granular bainite, it increased the strength and upper shelf energy, and decreased the energy transition temperature. The Cr addition promoted the formation of coarse granular bainite and secondary phases such as martensite-austenite constituents, thereby leading to the increased effective grain size, energy transition temperature, and strength and to the decreased upper shelf energy. The steel containing 0.3wt.% Mo and 0.06wt.% V without Cr had the highest upper shelf energy and the lowest energy transition temperature because its microstructure was composed of fine acicular ferrite and granular bainite, together with a small amount of hard secondary phases, while its tensile properties maintained excellent.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.9
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• pp.523-532
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• 2009

In this study, four API X80 linepipe steel specimens were fabricated with varying cooling rates and finish cooling temperatures, and their microstructures and crystallographic orientations were analyzed to investigate the effects of cooling conditions on their tensile and Charpy impact properties. All the specimens consisted of acicular ferrite, granular bainite, and secondary phases such as martensite and martensiteaustenite constituent. The volume fraction of secondary phases increased with increasing cooling rate, and the higher finish cooling temperature resulted in the reduction in volume fraction and grain size of secondary phases. According to the crystallographic orientation analysis data, the effective grain size and unit crack path decreased as fine acicular ferrites having a large amount of high-angle grain boundaries were homogeneously formed, thereby leading to the improvement of Charpy impact properties. The specimen fabricated with the higher cooling rate and lower finish cooling temperature had the highest upper shelf energy and the lowest energy transition temperature because it contained a large amount of fine secondary phases homogeneously distributed inside fine acicular ferrites, while its tensile properties well maintained.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.155-168
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• 2009

In this study, microstructural investigation was conducted on the separation phenomenon occurring during Charpy impact tests of API X80 linepipe steels. Particular emphasis was placed on the role of microstructural phases present in the API X80 steels such as acicular ferrite, bainite, and hard secondary phases. Detailed microstructural analysis of fractured impact specimens showed that highly elongated bainite worked as prior initiation sites for separations, and that the number and length of separations increased with increasing volume fraction of bainite. In the steels having high work hardenability, tearing-shaped separations were found because the hammer-impacted region was seriously hardened during the impact test, which led to the reduction in the impact toughness. As the test temperature decreased, the tendency of separations increased, but separations were not observed when the cleavage fracture prevailed at very low temperatures. Thus, the minimization of the formation of bainite and secondary phases in the steels would be beneficial for preventing or minimizing separations because separations deteriorated low-temperature impact toughness.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.10
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• pp.875-883
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• 2010

This study assessed the Charpy impact properties of the heat-affected zones (HAZs) of API X80 linepipe steels containing complex oxides. Three types of steel were fabricated by adding Mg and $O_2$ to form complex oxides and their microstructures and Charpy impact properties were investigated. The number of complex oxides increased with the amount of excess Mg and $O_2$ that was included in the steels. Simulated HAZs containing a number of oxides showed a high volume fraction of acicular ferrite (AF) because the oxides acted as nucleation sites for AF, thereby leading to an improvement in the Charpy impact properties. According to a correlation study between the heat input, the volume fraction of the AF, and the Charpy impact properties, ductile fractures occurred predominantly when the fraction of the AF was 20% or higher; moreover, the Charpy absorbed energy was excellent at more than 100 J. These findings suggest that the improvement of the Charpy impact properties of the HAZs was associated with the active nucleation of AF in the oxide-containing steel HAZs.