• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.146-149
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• 2007

The effects of boron additions in steels have long been recognized as very important, mainly with respect to hardnability of heat treatable steels. The systematics of structure and properties of boron steels will then be illustrated in the context of low-alloy steels with carbon contents raging from 0.05 to 0.25% and boron contents 0-130 ppm. we investigated the effect of the microstructure and mechanical properties with heat treatment condition of the boron-treated(0.0013 ppm) low carbon(0.2 %C) low alloy steel. The specimens were austenitised for 5 and 10, 15 min at $880{\sim}940^{\circ}C$(with/without tempered at 150, 180 and $210^{\circ}C$ for the various periods of time from 60 min to 120 min) After heat treatment, mechanical properties were measured by tensile test and hardness test. For analysis of microstructure, Optical/SEM analysis and XRD were carried out.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2012

This paper developed the chassis part as micro-alloyed steel with high toughness. The performance of micro-alloy steels are superior to similar heat treated steels. The strengthening effects of vanadium make micro-alloyed steels particularly suited for high-strength-steel applications. The disadvantages are that ductility and toughness are not as good as quenched and tempered (Q&T) steels. Precipitation hardening increases strength but may contribute to brittleness. Toughness can be improved by reducing carbon content and titanium additions. dispersed titanium nitrides (TiN) formed by titanium additions effectively prevents grain coarsening. Grain refinement increases strength but also improves toughness. For the chassis parts using high toughness micro-alloy steel, it had proven superior to a plain steel forging by static strength test and endurance test.

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

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.281-289
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• 2016

The effect of nitrogen on the electrochemical corrosion and nanomechanical behaviors of martensitic stainless steel was examined using potentiodynamic polarization and nanoindentation test methods. The results indicate that partial replacement of carbon with nitrogen effectively improved the passivation and pitting corrosion resistance of conventional high-carbon and high- chromium martensitic steels. Post-test observation of the samples after a potentiodynamic test revealed a severe pitting attacks in conventional martensitic steel compared with nitrogen- containing martensitic stainless steel. This was shown to be due to (i) microstructural refinement results in retaining a high-chromium content in the matrix, and (ii) the presence of reversed austenite formed during the tempering process. Since nitrogen addition also resulted in the formation of a $Cr_2N$ phase as a process of secondary hardening, the hardness of the nitrogen- containing steel is slightly higher than the conventional martensitic stainless steel under tempered conditions, even though the carbon content is lowered. The added nitrogen also improved the wear resistance of the steel as the critical load (Lc2) is less, along with a lower scratch friction coefficient (SFC) when compared to conventional martensitic stainless steel such as AISI 440C.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.68-74
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• 2017

Characteristics of dissimilar metal welds between alloy steel ASTM A387 Gr. 91 and carbon steel ASTM A516 Gr.70 made with Flux cored arc welding(FCAW) have been evaluated in terms of microstructure, mechanical strength, chemical analysis by EDS as well as corrosion test. Three heat inputs of 15.0, 22.5, 30.0kJ/cm were employed to make joints of dissimilar metals with E71T-1C wire. Post-weld heat treatment was carried out at $750^{\circ}C$ for 2.5 h. Based on microstructural examination, Intragranular polygonal ferrite and grainboundary ferrite were formed only in first layer of weld metal. Another layers consisted of acicular ferrite and $Widmannst{\ddot{a}}tten$ ferrite. The amount of acicular ferrite was increased with decreasing heat input and layer. Heat affected zone of alloy steel showed the highest hardness due to the formation of tempered martensite and lower bainite. Lower and upper bainite were formed in heat affected zone of carbon steel. Tensile strengths of dissimilar metal welds decreased with increasing heat inputs. Dissimilar metal welds showed a good hot cracking resistance due to the low HCS index below 4. The salt spray test of dissimilar metals welds showed that the weight loss rate by corrosion below 170 hours was decreased with increasing heat inputs due to the increase of the amount of acicular ferrite.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.303-308
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• 2011

The effect of heat treatment on the micro-structures and the mechanical properties of 0.002% boron added low carbon steel was investigated. The tensile strength reached the peak at about $880-890^{\circ}C$ with the rising quenching temperature and then the hardness decreased sharply, but the tensile strength hardly decreased. The tensile and yield strength decreased and the total elongation increased with a rising tempering temperature, but the tensile and yield strength sharply fell and the total elongation prominently increased from above a $400-450^{\circ}C$ tempering temperature. Tempered martensite embrittlement (TME) was observed at tempering condition of $350-400^{\circ}C$. In the condition of quenching at $890^{\circ}C$ and tempering at $350^{\circ}C$, the boron precipitates were observed as Fe-C-B and BN together. The hardness decreased in proportion to the tempering temperature untill $350^{\circ}C$ and dropped sharply above $400^{\circ}C$ regardless of the quenching temperature.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.42-48
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• 2011

440A martensitic stainless steels which were modified with reduced carbon content(~0.5%) and addition of small amount of nickel, vanadium, tungsten and molybdenum were manufactured. Effects of alloying elements and tempering temperatures on the uniform corrosion in the solution of lN H2S04 were investigated through the electrochemical polarization test. When tempering temperature is constant, corrosion current density in active-passive transition point, Icorr, decreased a little with an increase of austenitizing temperature. In addition to this, when austenitizing temperature is constant, longer holding time showed a little lower Icorr and Ipass, passive current density. And when austenitized at $1050^{\circ}C$ and tempered in a range of $350{\sim}750^{\circ}C$, best anti-corrosion properties were obtained at $350^{\circ}C$ tempering temperature while worst at $450^{\circ}C$ or $550^{\circ}C$. The specimens tempered at below $450^{\circ}C$ and above $550^{\circ}C$, similar and good anti-corrosion characteristics were obtained regardless of alloying elements added, showing anti-corrosion characteristics are influenced more by tempering temperature than by alloying elements.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.459-465
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• 2018

This paper presents a study of the microstructure and mechanical properties of commercial high-hardness armor (HHA) steels tempered at different temperatures. Although the as-received specimens of all the steels exhibit a tempered martensite structure with lath type morphology, the A steel, which has the smallest carbon content, had the lowest hardness due to reduced solid solution hardening and larger lath thickness, irrespective of tempering conditions. As the tempering temperature increases, the hardness of the steels steadily decreases because dislocation density decreases and the lath thickness of martensite increases due to recovery and over-aging effects. When the variations in hardness plotted as a function of tempering temperature are compared with the hardness of the as-received specimens, it seems that the B steel, which has the highest yield and tensile strengths, is fabricated by quenching, while the other steels are fabricated by quenching and tempering. On the other hand, the impact properties of the steels are affected by specimen orientation and test temperature as well as microstructure. Based on these results, the effect of tempering on the microstructure and mechanical properties of commercial high-hardness armor steels is discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.65-71
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• 2007

Microstructural changes and hardness variations in STS 304 steel have been investigated during the processes of carbide dispersion (CD) carburization; carburization, austenitization, subzero treatment and tempering. The carbon content of the surface layer increased up to maximum 4.0% after carburization, and the content was homogenized with the value of 2.3% to the $95{\mu}m$ from the surface after austenitization. The carbide appeared during CD carburization process was $Cr_7C_3$ type, which was composed network carbides along the austenite grain boundaries, square type carbides in the interior of the grain and fine nano-sized carbides. The fine nano-sized carbides precipitated at the austenitization stage and possibly subzero treatment stage were coarsened after tempering at $200^{\circ}C$, resulting the hardness decrease. The tempered steel without subzero treatment increased hardness with increasing time due to the continuous precipitation of fine carbides during tempering. The nano-sized carbide appeared square type morphology.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.961-969
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• 2007

The laser material processing has replaced a conventional material processing such as a welding, cutting, drilling and surface modification and so on. LTH(Laser Transformation Hardening) is one branch of the laser surface modification process. A lot of energy is needed for the LTH process to elevate workpiece surface to temperature of the austenite transformation($A_3$), which results from utilizing a beam with a larger size and lower power intensity comparatively. The absorptivity of the laser energy with respect to material depends on the wave length of a beam. This study is related to the surface hardening for the rod-shaped carbon steel by the high power diode laser(HPDL) whose beam absorptivity is better than conventional types of lasers such as $CO_2$ or Nd:YAG laser. Because a beam proceeds on the rotating specimen the pretreated hardened-phase can be tempered and softened by the overlapping between hardened tracks. Accordingly, the longitudinal hardness measurement and observation of the micro structure was carried out for an assessment of the hardening characteristics. In addition, a hardening characteristics as a hardenability of materials was compared in the point of view of the hardness distribution and hardening depth and width.