Effect of thermo-mechanical parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of microalloyed steels

In this work the effects of controlled rolling parameters and adding of Niobium have been studied. In this order two steel grades with and without Niobium are planed and after steelmaking and continuous casting, rolling process are done. Then, laboratory investigations such as microstructure, mechanical properties and grain size analysis were performed Tensile and Charpy impact tests specimens were machined out of the central part of the rolled billets. The microstructure of the specimens was examined for each experimental condition using optical microscopy. The results indicate that increasing the reheating temperature above the dissolution temperature of Nb (C, N) improved the impact energy values. By increasing the cooling rate from 0.5 to 1.5 oC/s both tensile strength and impact toughness were improved. High elongation percent was also observed on samples reheated at higher temperature and/or cooled with the higher cooling rates. The obtained mechanical properties were related to the characteristics of microstructural components including acicular ferrite, retained austenite, pearlite and ferrite.