Papers by Keyword: Isothermal Heat-Treatment

Abstract: Duplex stainless steels constitute a famous group of the stainless steels. They consist of mainly ferritic and austenitic phases. The ratio between these phases is regulated by numerous alloying elements and low content of carbon. Because of this strong alloying a lot of metallurgical processes can take place at high temperature, e.g. the decomposition of ferritic phase into σ-phase and secondary austenite. In this paper the changes of amounts of these three phases are studied by automated EBSD, saturation magnetization measurement, XRD-analysis and micro-hardness test. Similar results were obtained by the different applied measurements for the change of phase ratios due to the isothermal heat treatment.

Abstract: P92 steels as well as P91 are widely used as boiler tube materials of ultra super critical (USC) power plants these days. And thus embrittlement is very important for structural integrity of the USC plants. The embrittlement was observed when P92 (Modified 9Cr-1.8W-0.5Mo-V-Nb) steels were quenched to and held at the temperature of 320 to 350°C, which were the temperatures intermediate between Ms and Mf, and then air-cooled. Nearly same kind of the embrittlement had been observed with the T/P91 steels and a theory had been proposed to explain the mechanism of the embrittlement by us. From the theory, the embrittlement might be caused by the brittle martensite which is freshly formed during air-cooling. We tried to apply the theory for the embrittlement of the T/P92 steel. The behaviors of the embrittled T/P92 steel were explained well by the theory.

Abstract: In case of the low carbon chromium steel that have widely been used for the carburized gears or rolling bearings, the austenite grain coarsening may be occasionally occurred during carburizing. To restrain this phenomenon, most of hot forged parts have been given to an isothermal heat treatment or normalizing immediately after hot forging and/or prior to carburizing. Therefore, their production cost includes unexpected additional expenses caused by such a non-value added process. To confirm the possibility of an energy saving, as well as attaining a superior fatigue life, in the production of automotive parts to be carburized, the austenite grain coarsening with the manufacturing process of the microalloyed steel, containing Nb and B as a grain refining elements, was investigated. The heat treatment characteristics and rolling contact fatigue behavior of the carburized specimens with the isothermal heat treatment were also investigated. In spite of omitting the isothermal heat treatment after hot forging, the abnormally coarse austenite grains were not found out in the carburized specimens. However, the rolling contact fatigue life of the carburized specimens, in which the isothermal heat treatment was omitted, was shorter than that of isothermally heat-treated specimens.

Abstract: The evolution of microstructure and its effects on the mechanical properties of modified 9%Cr-1%Mo steel during heat-treating at 1050°C for 15 min and then isothermal heat treatment at 380~760°C with subsequent air-cooling have been investigated. For the microstructural and mechanical property analyses, OM, SEM, EDS, XRD, hardness and impact tests were used. In accordance with the severity of the heat-treatment, the microstructure evolved from the untransformed martensite to the partially transformed dual phases of martensite and ferrite, and then fully transformed to ferrite. Impact values at ambient temperature for specimens isothermally heat-treated at 320 - 380°C, predominantly at about 350°C were lower than others’ with similar martensitic structure. The partially transformed specimens with dual phases of martensite and ferrite also showed lower impact values than samples with untransformed with martensitic, and transformed with ferritic structures.