Effect of Different Cooling Paths on the Microstructure and Properties of a Plain Carbon Steel

The effect of different cooling paths on the microstructure and properties of a plain carbon steel was carefully investigated by thermal simulation, hot rolling, tensile tests and quantitative metallography. Experimental results indicate that the more rapid the cooling rate is, the smaller the average ferritic grain size is and the higher the mechanical properties are. Both ultra fast cooling method and ultra fast cooling+accelerated controlled cooling method could refine grain size and improve mechanical properties. Without any alloy addition, using the ultra fast cooling immediately after hot rolling process, the yield strength of the plain carbon steel could reach 360 MPa and the elongation is 32%.