• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.46 no.12
• /
• pp.788-799
• /
• 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
• /
• v.47 no.9
• /
• pp.523-532
• /
• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.185-192
• /
• 2022

Variations in the microstructure and mechanical properties of API X70 steel processed by piping, electrical resistance welding (ERW), and post seam annealing (PSA) are investigated in this study. In the welding zone, some elongated pearlites are formed and grains coarsening occurs due to extra heat caused by the ERW and PSA processes. After the piping, the base metal shows continuous yielding behavior and a decrease in yield and impact strengths because mobile dislocation and back stress are introduced during the piping process. On the other hand, the ERW and PSA processes additionally decreased the impact strength of welding zone at room and low temperatures because some elongated pearlites easily act as crack initiation site and coarse ferrite grains facilitate crack propagation. As a result, the fracture surface of the welding zone specimen tested at low temperature revealed mostly cleavage fracture unlike the base metal specimen.

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

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 1999.08a
• /
• pp.10-21
• /
• 1999

Recent progress in manufacture of hot and cold rolled steel strip products and their applications were reviewed. The main trend in the technological development has been to meet the customers' requests for quality improvement and cost reduction. The weight reduction to reduce the fuel consumption is the main issue in the automotive industry and, therefore, various steels have been developed to improve formability as well as strength. The steels include super-EDDQ steels, bainitic steels, TRIP steels, etc. In the oil industry, efforts have been focused to improve strength together with either low temperature toughness or HIC/SSCC resistance. The packaging industry is also a highly competitive market, and steel and canmaking companies have worked cooperatively to develop cost-effective canmaking processes as well as high performance steels. This type of cooperation has also been found important in other industries such as the appliance and electronic industries for the benefits of both steelmakers and customers.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.155-168
• /
• 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
• /
• v.48 no.10
• /
• pp.875-883
• /
• 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.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.46 no.4
• /
• pp.257-266
• /
• 2008

AHydrogen induced cracking (HIC) was phenomenologically studied in terms of the effect of nonmetallic inclusions and hot rolling process parameters. By comparing the level of non-metallic inclusions in two different kinds of commercial grade steels having different HIC resistance, the role of non-metallic inclusions in HIC occurrence was investigated. Change in inclusion morphology and distribution during hot rolling was also studied throughout slab, rolling at austenite recrystallization region (roughing mill; RM) and rolling at austenite non-recrystallization region (finish mill; FM). In addition, the contribution of RM and FM parameters to HIC was investigated from the standpoint of change in inclusion morphology during hot rolling processes. As a result, HIC was closely related to the separation of large complex inclusion during hot rolling process. Large complex inclusions originated from the improper Ca treatment, after which equilibrium composition of slag should have resulted in eutectoid composition. By controlling the equilibrium slag composition equivalent to eutectoid one, HIC resistance could be improved due to the reduced size of inclusions. In addition, change in reduction/pass in RM had an effect on HIC resistance of steels while that in FM did not. Increase in the reduction/pass in the latter stage of RM improved HIC resistance of steels by enhancing the void enclosure around inclusions.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.4 no.6
• /
• pp.236-241
• /
• 2005

Hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) is one of the hydrogen degradation phenomena of linepipe steels caused by $H_2S$ gas in the crude oil or natural gas. However, NACE TM0284-96 standard HIC test method is hard to satisfy the steel requirements for sour service application since it uses more severe environmental conditions than actual conditions. Therefore, in order to use steels effectively, it is required to evaluate HIC resistance of steels in the practical range of environmental severity. In this study, HIC resistance of two high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels being used as line pipe steels was evaluated in various test solutions with different $H_2S$ pressures and pH values. The results showed that the key parameter affecting crack area ratio (CAR) is $H_2S$ partial pressure of test solution when the pH value of test solution is not over 4. Hydrogen diffusivity was not a constant value, but it was rather affected by the hydrogen ion concentration (pH value) in the solution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 1999.08a
• /
• pp.383-389
• /
• 1999

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of alloying and rolling condition on the mechanical properties and to develop high strength line pipe steels with good toughness. Tests were carried out by the laboratory experiments followed by mill trials and mass production. It was found that a small addition of microalloying elements, such as Nb, V with Mo or Ti remarkably increased the strength and toughness of hot strips. The optimum condition of thermomechanical rolling on low carbon microalloyed steel improved the toughness through the formation of a fine and uniform microstructure. Based on this mill trials following the fundamental research, the production technology of line pipe steels, grade X70∼X100 with high toughness, has been established. These grade steels exhibit excellent low temperature toughness (vTs= under -80$^{\circ}C$) and sufficient strength in both the base metal and the ERW seam weld position, respectively.