• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2024

A Fe-Ni Bainitic steel as a weathering steel application was developed by combining its excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance in maritime environments. Nickel concentration (0.4-3 wt%) and inverted austempering multi-step (IAM) process were primary determinants of the microstructure of the Fe-Ni Bainitic steel. The initial austempering steel was performed at 300 ℃ for 600 seconds to obtain a partly bainitic transformation. The steel was heated again for 1800 s at 450 ℃. The microstructure was comprised of ferrite, a blocky martensite/austenite island, and a homogeneous lath-shape bainite structure with widths ranging from 4.67 to 6.89 ㎛. The maximum strength, 1480 MPa, was obtained with 3 wt% nickel. In this study, corrosion behavior was investigated utilizing potentiodynamic and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests. A higher nickel content in Fe-Ni Bainitic steel refined the grain size, improved the bainite fraction, lowered the corrosion rate to 0.0257 mmpy, and increased the charge transfer of film resistance to 1369 Ω.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.139-149
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• 2021

In this study, three kinds of bainitic steels are fabricated by controlling the contents of vanadium and boron. High vanadium steel has a lot of carbides and nitrides, and so, during the cooling process, acicular ferrite is well formed. Carbides and nitrides develop fine grains by inhibiting grain growth. As a result, the low temperature Charpy absorbed energy of high vanadium steel is higher than that of low vanadium steel. In boron added steel, boron segregates at the prior austenite grain boundary, so that acicular ferrite formation occurs well during the cooling process. However, the granular bainite packet size of the boron added steel is larger than that of high vanadium steel because boron cannot effectively suppress grain growth. Therefore, the low temperature Charpy absorbed energy of the boron added steel is lower than that of the low vanadium steel. HAZ (heat affected zone) microstructure formation affects not only vanadium and boron but also the prior austenite grain size. In the HAZ specimen having large prior austenite grain size, acicular ferrite is formed inside the austenite, and granular bainite, bainitic ferrite, and martensite are also formed in a complex, resulting in a mixed acicular ferrite region with a high volume fraction. On the other hand, in the HAZ specimen having small prior austenite grain size, the volume fraction of the mixed acicular ferrite region is low because granular bainite and bainitic ferrite are coarse due to the large number of prior austenite grain boundaries.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.78-86
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• 2004

Effects of the annealing parameters on the formation of ferrites transformed at low temperatures were studied in cold-rolled ultra low carbon steels with niobium and/or chromium. Niobium and chromium were found to be effective in the formation of the low temperature transformation ferrites. The low temperature transformation ferrites more easily formed when both higher annealing temperature and longer annealing time, allowing substitutional alloying elements to distribute between phases, are in combination with faster cooling rate. It was found from EBSD study that the additions of niobium or chromium resulted in the increase in the numbers of high angle grain boundaries and the decrease in those of the low angle grain boundaries in the microstructures. Both granular bainitic ferrite and bainitic ferrite were characterized by the not clearly etched grain boundaries in light microscopy because of the low angle grain boundaries.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.9
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• pp.798-806
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• 2010

The effects of alloying elements and the cooling condition on the microstructure, tensile properties, and Charpy impact properties of high-strength bainitic steel plates fabricated by a controlled rolling process were investigated in the present study. Eight kinds of steel plates were fabricated by varying C, Cr, and Nb additions under two different cooling rates, and their microstructures and tensile and Charpy impact properties were evaluated. The microstructures present in the steels increased in the order of granular bainite, acicular ferrite, bainitic ferrite, and martensite as the carbon equivalent or cooling rate increased, which resulted in a decrease in the ductility and Charpy absorbed energy. The steels containing a considerable amount of bainitic ferrite or martensite showed very high strengths, together with good ductility and Charpy absorbed energy. In order to achieve the best combination of strength, ductility, and Charpy absorbed energy, granular bainite and acicular ferrite were properly included in the high-strength bainitic steels by controlling the carbon equivalent and cooling rate, while about 50 vol.% of bainitic ferrite or martensite was maintained to maintain the high strength.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.211-220
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• 2019

In this study, three kinds of bainitic steel plates are manufactured by varying the chemical compositions and their microstructures are analyzed. Tensile and Charpy impact tests are performed at room and low temperature to investigate the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties. In addition, heat affected zone (HAZ) specimens are fabricated by a simulation of welding processes, and the HAZ microstructure is analyzed. The base steel that has the lowest carbon equivalent has the highest volume fraction of acicular ferrite and the lowest volume fraction of secondary phases, so the strength is the lowest and the elongation is the highest. The Mo steel has a higher volume fraction of granular bainite and more secondary phases than the base steel, so the strength is high and the elongation is low. The CrNi steel has the highest volume fraction of the secondary phases, so the strength is the highest and elongation is the lowest. The tensile properties of the steels, namely, strength and elongation, have a linear correlation with the volume fraction of secondary phases. The Mo steel has the lowest Charpy impact energy at $-80^{\circ}C$ because of coarse granular bainite. In the Base-HAZ and Mo-HAZ specimens, the hardness increases as the volume fraction of martensite-austenite constituents increases. In the CrNi-HAZ specimen, however, hardness increases as the volume fraction of martensite and bainitic ferrite increases.

• Metals and materials international
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1202-1212
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• 2018

The effects of Nickle (Ni) addition on bainitic transformation and property of ultrahigh strength bainitic steels are investigated by three austempering processes. The results indicate that Ni addition hinders the isothermal bainite transformation kinetics, and decreases the volume fraction of bainite due to the decrease of chemical driving force for nucleation and growth of bainite transformation. Moreover, the product of tensile strength and total elongation (PSE) of high carbon bainitic steels decreases with Ni addition at higher austempering temperatures (220 and $250^{\circ}C$), while it shows no significant difference at lower austempering temperature ($200^{\circ}C$). For the same steel (Ni-free or Ni-added steel), the amounts of bainite and RA firstly increase and then decrease with the increase of the austempering temperature, resulting in the highest PSE in the sample austempered at temperature of $220^{\circ}C$. In addition, the effects of austempering time on bainite amount and property of high carbon bainitic steels are also analyzed. It indicates that in a given transformation time range of 30 h, more volume of bainite and better mechanical property in high carbon bainitic steels can be obtained by increasing the isothermal transformation time.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.522-527
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• 2018

This study investigates the effects of isothermal holding temperature and time on the microstructure, hardness and Charpy impact properties of medium-carbon bainitic steel specimens. Medium-carbon steel specimens with different bainitic microstructures are fabricated by varying the isothermal conditions and their microstructures are characterized using OM, SEM and EBSD analysis. Hardness and Charpy impact tests are also performed to examine the correlation of microstructure and mechanical properties. The microstructural analysis results reveal that granular bainite, bainitic ferrite, lath martensite and retained austenite form differently in the specimens. The volume fraction of granular bainite and bainitic ferrite increases as the isothermal holding temperature increases, which decreases the hardness of specimens isothermally heat-treated at $300^{\circ}C$ or higher. The specimens isothermally heat-treated at $250^{\circ}C$ exhibit the highest hardness due to the formation of lath martensite, irrespective of isothermal holding time. The Charpy impact test results indicate that increasing isothermal holding time improves the impact toughness because of the increase in volume fraction of granular bainite and bainitic ferrite, which have a relatively soft microstructure compared to lath martensite for specimens isothermally heat-treated at $250^{\circ}C$ and $300^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.423-429
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• 2013

Recently, steel structures have increasingly been required to have sufficient deformability because they are subjected to progressive or abrupt displacement arising from structure loading itself, earthquake, and ground movement in their service environment. In this study, high-strength low-carbon bainitic steel specimens with enhanced deformability were fabricated by varying thermo-mechanical control process conditions consisting of controlled rolling and accelerated cooling, and then tensile and Charpy V-notch impact tests were conducted to investigate the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties such as strength, deformability, and low-temperature toughness. Low-temperature transformation phases, i.e. granular bainite (GB), degenerate upper bainite(DUB), lower bainite(LB) and lath martensite(LM), together with fine polygonal ferrite(PF) were well developed, and the microstructural evolution was more critically affected by start and finish cooling temperatures than by finish rolling temperature. The steel specimens start-cooled at higher temperature had the best combination of strength and deformability because of the appropriate mixture of fine PF and low-temperature transformation phases such as GB, DUB, and LB/LM. On the other hand, the steel specimens start-cooled at lower temperature and finish-cooled at higher temperature exhibited a good low-temperature toughness because the interphase boundaries between the low-temperature transformation phases and/or PF act as beneficial barriers to cleavage crack propagation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.307-310
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• 2003

Non-heat treated steels are attractive in the steel-wire industry since the spheroidization and quenching-tempering treatment are not involved during the processing. In this study, three different steels such as dual phase steel, low-Si steel, and ultra low carbon bainitic steel were used to investigate their deformation resistance and forming limit. Deformation resistance was estimated by calculating the deformation energy and the forming limit was evaluated by measuring the critical strain revealing crack initiation at the notch tip of the specimens. The results showed that deformation resistance was the lowest in the low-Si steel, and the forming limit strain was the highest in the ultra low carbon bainitic steel.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.103-108
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• 2016

In recent years, TRIP steels which are composed of ferrite, bainite, and retained austenite have drawn much attention for automotive sheets due to excellent combination of strength and ductility. The effect of two-step isothermal heat treatment of bainitic transformation on microstructures, especially retained austenites and tensile properties in the conventional TRIP steel was investigated. A two-step isothermal heat treatment, in which 50% bainitic transformation occurred at high temperature, followed by bainitic transformation at low temperature, improves tensile properties, resulting from enhanced mechanical stability of retained austenite against external plastic deformation due to refinement of retained austenites, compared to single-step isothermal heat treatment.