• 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.

• 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.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.6 no.5
• /
• pp.435-445
• /
• 1997

In order to study the manufacturing possibility of connecting rod by direct quenching method, the difference between connecting rod by direct quenching and that by general heat treatment were investigated by observing microstructure, by measuring mechanical properties, by conducting fatigue testing, and by measuring the amount of tool wear in actual cutting. Connecting rod manufactured by direct quenching had better fatigue life than that by general heat treatment, which was due to homogeneous microstructure, and higher strength. The amount of cutting tool wear of connecting rod by direct quenching was higher than that by general heat treatment, which was due to low machinability and high toughness of tempered martensite microstructure. Therefore it will be added the study of heat treatment and cutting condition for manufacturing by direct quenching.

• Journal of the korean Society of Automotive Engineers
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.97-103
• /
• 1992

An experimental investigation has been carried out to determine the effect of tempering temperature on the fatigue crack propagation behavior and mechanical properties using the quenched and tempered STS420 martensitic stainless steel. Heat treatments of tempering for two hours at the five different temperatures of 150.deg.C, 300.deg.C, 450.deg.C, 600.deg.C and 700.deg.C have been performed on the martensite obtained by air cooling the specimens austenitized for one hour at 1010.deg.C. Tensile strength, yield strength, hardness, .DELTA.K$_{th}$, C and m values of differently tempered specimens have been investigated by tensile, hardness and fatigue tests.s.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.55-65
• /
• 1999

Metallurgical factors influencing toughness of the Intercritically Reheated Coarse-Grained Heat Affected Zone (ICCG HAZ) of multiple welded SA508-cl.3 Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel were evaluated. The recrystallized austenite formed along the prior austenite grain boundaries and late interfaced on heating to the intercritical range was transformed to bainite and/or martensite during cooling. The newly formed martensite always included some retained austenite(M-A constituents). The characteristics(amount, hardness, density, and size) of M-A constituents were found to be strongly associated with both peak temperature and cooling time(△t8/5(2)) of last pass. Toughness in the ICCG HAZ was deteriorated with increasing amount of M-A constituents which was increased with increasing the last peak temperature within the intercritical temperature range. Meanwhile, for the same intercritical peak temperature, toughness was decreased with increasing cooling time. When cooling time was short, the dominant factor influencing toughness of the ICCG HAZ was amount of M-A constituents. However, when cooling time was lengthened, the hardness difference between M-A constituents and softened matrix(tempered martensite) was found to be the dominant factor.

• Advances in materials Research
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.183-194
• /
• 2024

D3 tools steel and 440C stainless steel (SS) are normally being employed for application such as knife blade and cutting tools. These steels are iron alloys which have high carbon and high chromium content. In this study, lab work focused on the microstructural and corrosion behavior of D3 tools steel and 440C SS after went through heat treatment processes. Heat treatments for both steels were started with normalizing at 1020 ℃, continue with hardening at 1000 ℃followed by oil quenching. Cryogenic treatment was carried out in liquid nitrogen for 24 hours. The addition of cryogenic heat treatment is believed to increase the hardness and corrosion resistance for steels. Both samples were then tempered at two different tempering temperatures, 160 ℃ and 426 ℃. For corrosion test, the samples were immersed in NaCl solution for 30 days to study the corrosion behavior of D3 tool steel and 440C SS after heat treatment. The mechanical properties of these steels have been investigated using Rockwell hardness machine before heat treatment, after heat treatment (before corrosion) and after corrosion test. Microstructure observation of samples was carried out by scanning electron microscopy. The corrosion rate of these steels was calculated after the corrosion test completed. From the results, the highest hardness is observed for D3 tool steel which tempered at 160 ℃(54.1 HRC). In terms of microstructural analysis, primary carbide and pearlite in the as-received samples transform to tempered martensite and cementite after heat treatment process. From this research, for corrosion test, heat treated 440C SS sample tempered with 426 ℃possessed the excellent corrosion resistance with corrosion rate 0.2808 mm/year.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.28 no.8
• /
• pp.459-465
• /
• 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 Powder Materials
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.311-317
• /
• 2020

In this study, the effects of Co content on the microstructure and Charpy impact properties of Fe-Cr-W ferritic/martensitic oxide dispersion strengthened (F/M ODS) steels are investigated. F/M ODS steels with 0-5 wt% Co are fabricated by mechanical alloying, followed by hot isostatic pressing, hot-rolling, and normalizing/tempering heat treatment. All the steels commonly exhibit two-phase microstructures consisting of ferrite and tempered martensite. The volume fraction of ferrite increases with the increase in the Co content, since the Co element considerably lowers the hardenability of the F/M ODS steel. Despite the lowest volume fraction of tempered martensite, the F/M ODS steel with 5 wt% Co shows the highest micro-Vickers hardness, owing to the solid solution-hardening effect of the alloyed Co. The high hardness of the steel improves the resistance to fracture initiation, thereby resulting in the enhanced fracture initiation energy in a Charpy impact test at - 40℃. Furthermore, the addition of Co suppresses the formation of coarse oxide inclusions in the F/M ODS steel, while simultaneously providing a high resistance to fracture propagation. Owing to these combined effects of Co, the Charpy impact energy of the F/M ODS steel increases gradually with the increase in the Co content.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.194-202
• /
• 2010

Application of a stronger and more durable material for reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) might be an effective way to insure the integrity and increase the efficiency of nuclear power plants. A series of research projects to apply the SA508 Gr.4 steel in ASME code to RPVs are in progress because of its excellent strength and durability compared to commercial RPV steel (SA508 Gr.3 steel). In this study, the microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties of SA508 Gr.3 Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel and SA508 Gr.4N Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel were investigated. The differences in the stable phases between these two low alloy steels were evaluated by means of a thermodynamic calculation using ThermoCalc. They were then compared to microstructural features and correlated with mechanical properties. Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel shows the upper bainite structure that has coarse cementite in the lath boundaries. However, Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel shows the mixture of lower bainite and tempered martensite structure that homogeneously precipitates the small carbides such as $M_{23}C_6$ and $M_7C_3$ due to an increase of hardenability and Cr addition. In the mechanical properties, Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel has higher strength and toughness than Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel. Ni and Cr additions increase the strength by solid solution hardening. In addition, microstructural changes from upper bainite to tempered martensite improve the strength of the low alloy steel by grain refining effect, and the changes in the precipitation behavior by Cr addition improve the ductile-brittle transition behavior along with a toughening effect of Ni addition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.154-160
• /
• 2000

Martensitic stainless steels containing 12%Cr are commonly used in quenched and tempered conditions. The quenching heat treatment involves annealing to obtain austenite and to dissolve the carbides , followed by cooling to transform the austenite into martensite and often to cause carbide predipitation. In this study, we used three different tempered specimens which were temperated at 30$0^{\circ}C$, 67$0^{\circ}C$ and 75$0^{\circ}C$ . The crack propagation and fracture toughness tests were performed on this three different specimens. The experimental results showed that the highest value of crack growth rate and the lowest value of fracture toughness were observed in the specimen which were temperated at $600^{\circ}C$, however, when the specimen were temperated at 75$0^{\circ}C$, the vale of crack growth rate was significantly decreased and the value of fracture toughness was significantly increased as compared to which were temperated at $600^{\circ}C$.