Papers by Keyword: Martensitic Steel

Abstract: Recently, light-weight and energy-saving requirements for the automobile industry are extremely important in order to protect the environment by a reduction of the emission of CO₂. Hence, high-strength steel (AHSS), even ultrahigh strength steels with tensile strength larger than 1GPa is used. Among AHSS, cold-rolled martensitic steels have attracted much attention due to their superior strength to improve crashworthiness. In this research, the influence of different annealing treatments, especially the auto-tempering, on the phase transformation further affecting the mechanical properties and microstructure was investigated. The result shows that the level of auto-tempering and strength in martensitic steel is dominated by the quenching/auto-tempering temperature. Furthermore, the auto-tempering carbides should be cementite which is fine enough to improve yield strength. The suitable chemical composition combined with auto-tempering method has been implemented to develop cold-rolled martensitic steels with a tensile strength of exceeding 1300MPa. These developed martensitic steels can meet the requirements of bumper reinforcement which has applied in a variety of automobiles.

Abstract: Resistance spot welding (RSW) is still the ideal joining method in the automotive industry. Mostly steel sheets are used in the car body, so overlap and layering are required for welding or riveting, as spot welding provides simultaneous clamping force with interfacial welding to ensure the required strength and quality. A fundamental understanding of heating and cooling rates in thermal distributions is essential for predicting microstructure formation in the weld and the heat-affected zones (HAZ) of RSW joints. The ability to measure the heat cycle in the RSW process can be valuable in weld control and welding parameter optimization. RSW parameters can be optimized through tensile shear tests and microscopic investigations. Heat cycle measurement (HCM) demonstrates the welding consequences in terms of the change in mechanical properties and microstructural formations. The accuracy of cooling rate measurements including t_8/5 cooling time is very important to predict the microstructural evolution in the HAZ, however, the thermocouple measurement raises numerous challenges due to the high temperature gradient and small weld and HAZ size. During our investigations heat cycle measurement has been conducted experimentally by a K-type thermocouple. The data logger is connected to the output of the thermocouple for recording the voltage to measure the temperature distributions as a function of both time and position during the welding process. Measurement results of 1 mm thick martensitic MS1400 steel overlapped RSW joints are discussed, and the HCM curve of heating and cooling rates of the spot-welding process is presented. The heat cycle during RSW was measured with two different welding parameter combinations. In addition to welding current, welding time, and electrode force, pulsation has shown disparate curves. Numerous experiments have been attempted to measure the heat cycle in HAZ sub-zones due to the difficulty of positioning the thermocouple accurately, uppercritical HAZ, intercritical HAZ, and subcritical HAZ were investigated and measured in both welding parameter combinations. Difficulties were encountered in the experimental work as a result of the instantaneous welding time and the vibration resulting from the passage of alternating electrical current between the two electrodes. A magnetic field is generated that affects the thermocouple measurement and appears as a noisy curve that is filtered out and smoothed. Joule heat, interfacial heat generation, and cooling effects of electrodes are also considered in the experiment.

Abstract: The ability of direct metal deposition (DMD) to fabricate complex geometries is still limited. Especially in thin-walled structures heat accumulation can lead to intolerable geometric deviation and which has to be avoided. Combining thin walls and massive sections in one layer requires parameter adapting for each section within a layer. An existing semi-empirical model predicts the optimal process parameters for the austenitic steel 1.4404. This study demonstrates the validity of the model for martensitic steel 1.4313 by an experimental campaign. The demonstrators are characterized by a massive inner part attached to a thin-walled rib. They were fabricated by DMD using constant and adapted heat input and were qualified by visual inspection, geometrical accuracy, Vickers hardness, and microstructure analysis. The demonstrators built with the adapted laser power showed enhanced geometrical accuracy which is essential for post-processing. The hardness along the symmetry plane was significantly increased, especially in the thin wall section. The study confirms the applicability of the model for martensitic steel in terms of geometrical accuracy but identifies perspectives to integrate microstructural aspects into the model.

Abstract: Hydrogen embrittlement (HE) is increasingly becoming a critical issue for using high-strength steels in the automotive and infrastructure industries. To overcome the risk posed by HE of structural components under a hydrogen uptake environment in long-term service, it is necessary to clarify the mechanism of HE. In the present study, the presence of hydrogen-enhanced strain-induced vacancies (HESIVs)—one type of defect associated with proposed HE mechanisms—was validated by low-strain-rate tensile tests with in-situ electrochemical hydrogen charging for tempered martensitic steel showing quasi-cleavage fracture with a tensile strength. The effect HESIVs on the mechanical properties of tempered martensitic steel was also studied. The combined use of low-temperature thermal desorption spectroscopy and tensile tests led to the following observations: (i) hydrogen enhanced the accumulation of vacancy-type defects under plastic strain, (ii) accumulated vacancy-type defects adversely affected the ductility of the tempered martensitic steel after hydrogen release, and (iii) aging at 150 °C after applying a given plastic strain with hydrogen charging decreased the amount of newly formed vacancy-type defects and resulted in recovery of ductility.

Abstract: Resistance spot welding (RSW) is one of the most common welding methods for steel sheets, as it is mainly used to join the automotive body structure parts. Different types of ultra-high strength steels (UHSS) have become widely used in the automotive body to obtain the required demands such as lower car weight, improving crashworthiness behavior, and enhancing strength–ductility combination. Martensitic UHSS belong to the highest grades width their tensile strength above 1000 MPa. During the lifetime of the vehicle cyclic loading generally occurs, therefore the optimization of welding technology should be performed considering the fatigue resistance of the welded joints. In our research 1 mm thick standardized lap shear sheets of martensitic MS1400 steel were welded by a TECNA 8007 RSW equipment with two different welding parameter combinations. The idea was to analyze the effect of welding and pulsation parameters on joint properties under static and cyclic loading. The welding parameters have been calibrated to produce the same weld nugget size for both technological combinations. Macroscopic, hardness, and tensile-shear tests were carried out to determine the fundamental mechanical characteristics of the RSW joints. The relation between the weld nugget microstructure and mechanical properties was explored. The high cycle fatigue (HCF) tests were performed on an MTS 810.23 universal electro-hydraulic materials testing system. A statistical approach was applied during the preparation and evaluation of the investigations, which increased their reliability. Measured and analyzed data of the lap shear welded joints, prepared by different technological parameters, were compared and discussed. The parameters of the HCF experiments were calculated considering the Japanese testing method (JSME S 002-1981). In most of the samples it was observed from both welding parameter combinations that the fatigue cracks initiate and grow in curvature shape in the softened part of the heat-affected zone towards the base metals in both directions symmetrically. A slight difference was observed in the HCF resistance of the welded joints prepared by different welding parameters.

Abstract: Development of materials used in the power industry for the production of USC boilers poses new challenges. The introduction of new alloying agents intended at obtaining the best possible mechanical properties, including creep resistance, affects the fabricability of new steel grades. All new materials have to undergo a lot of tests, particularly as regards bending and welding processes, with the aim of enabling the development of technologies ensuring failure-free production and assembly of boiler components. Martensitic steels containing 9% Cr, used in the production of steam superheaters shall have good creep resistance and, at the same time, low oxidation resistance at a temperature above 600°C. In turn, steels with a 12% Cr content, for example, VM12-SHC or X20CrMoV12-1 are characterized by significantly higher oxidation resistance but have lower strength at higher temperatures, which translates to their limited application in the production of modern USC and A-USC boilers.X20CrMoV12-1 was withdrawn from most of the power plants across Europe and VM12-SHC was supposed to replace it, but unfortunately, it failed in regards of creep properties. To fulfill the gap a new creep strength-enhanced ferritic steel for service in supercritical and ultra-supercritical boiler applications was developed by Tenaris and named Thor™115 (Tenaris High Oxidation Resistance). This publication covers the experience obtained during first steps of fabrication which includes cold bending and TIG welding of homogenous joints.

Abstract: Conventional long-term creep test (CCT) to the rupture and so called accelerated creep test (ACT) of the dissimilar weld joint made of FB2 and F martensitic steels and of the base materials were carried out at temperatures ranging from 550 °C to 650 °C in the stress range from 70 to 220 MPa. Assessment of microstructure development and changes of hardness was correlated with the creep strength. During creep at temperatures above 575 °C Laves phase precipitated in all parts of the weld joint and especially in the heat affected zones. Coarse Laves phase particles and their clusters with chromium carbides served as nucleation centers for cavities. As the fine grained heat affected zone of F steel was the softest part of the weld joint, many cavities originated and cause failure of samples. The aim of this paper is to compare results and possibilities of the “standard” methods and advanced scanning electron microscopy performed by instrument equipped with a concentric backscatter electron detector (CBS). Filtering of the signal enables improving and/or diminishing of selected type of contrast caused by various types of particles of secondary phases. The images were used as an input data for image analysis and developments of microstructures during CCT and ACT were compared. Results have shown that specimens after ACT contains significantly lower content of the Laves phase.

Abstract: Fatigue cracks can start from non-metallic inclusions in the subsurface zone at low stress amplitude level and high number of cycles. This phenomenon was observed mainly at high strength steels and parts with hardened surface zone. Fatigue strength of steel can be then estimated on the basis of hardness and maximum size of defect/inclusions measurements. Many inclusions rating methods exist, some of which have been adopted as the standards. However, “standard” methods for characterization of inclusion content are not convenient for assessment of their influence on fatigue strength of materials. This contribution deals with assessment of maximum sizes of inclusions in three types of martensitic steels used for production of rotating blades of steam turbines (Böhler T552, Böhler T671, and MLX 17) using extreme value statistics methods. Murakami´s concept of √AREA_max parameter and procedure according to ASTM E2283-08 were applied. Results were compared one another and also with the result of standard methods, too. Founded parameters were used for calculation of expected limit of the fatigue strength and compared with results of fatigue test of these steels.

Abstract: M₆C carbides were found to form during short-term creep tests at 600 °C for 1100 h in an 11Cr ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steel with the normalized and tempered condition. The M₆C carbides have a face-centered cubic crystal structure, and a metallic element composition of 41-45Fe, 30-33W, 19-21Cr, 3Co/5Ta in atomic pct. The M₆C carbides were a dominant phase in the crept steel. δ-ferrite in high-Cr F/M steels may lead to a premature formation of large-sized M₆X precipitates during high temperature creep.

Abstract: The paper presents the results of a study of the lanthanum hexaboride nanosized powder modification effect on the cast structure of martensitic and austenitic steels deoxidized with aluminum and silicon. The study was conducted on high-chromium steels of austenitic and martensitic classes, and nanosized lanthanum hexaboride powder was used as a modifier. Studies of the chemical composition of the obtained samples, qualitative and quantitative analysis of non-metallic inclusions, the structure of the steel and thermodynamic modeling were carried out.