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Microstructure evolution during intercritical annealing of a Mn-Cr dual-phase steel

University of British Columbia

A model was developed to describe the microstructure evolution during intercritical annealing of a low-carbon steel suitable for industrial production of dual-phase steels (DP600 grade) on a hot-dip galvanizing line. The microstructure evolution model consists of individual submodels for recrystallization, austenite formation in a fully recrystallized material and austenite decomposition after partial austenization. These submodels were developed using the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov approach and the additivity principle. The model parameters were obtained based on the results of systematic experiments addressing the effects of initial microstructures and processing conditions on the microstructure evolution in the course of intercritical annealing. The initial microstructures included 50 pct cold-rolled ferrite-pearlite, ferrite-bainite-pearlite and martensite. If heating to an intercritical temperature was sufficiently slow, recrystallization was completed before austenite formation, otherwise austenite formed in a partially recrystallized microstructure. The recrystallization-austenite formation interaction accelerated austenization in all three starting microstructures by providing additional nucleation sites and enhancing growth rates; this complex process could not be accounted for with the current modelling approach. A variety of austenite morphologies was produced by using different initial microstructures and/or by means of the interaction of recrystallization and austenite formation. Following the complete intercritical annealing cycle, the final microstructure was composed of ferrite, bainite and martensite; the latter two components inherited the distribution and morphology of those for intercritical austenite. The microstructure evolution model was validated using simulated industrial thermal paths for intercritical annealing. Laser ultrasonics was employed for in-situ monitoring of phase transformations to facilitate the validation of the microstructure evolution model.

Text

2013-07-25

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/44695

Materials Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/