Effect of Heating Temperature and Heating Rate on Austenite in the Heating Process of 300M Steel

The growth behavior of 300M steel was investigated on a Gleeble-3500 simulator at the heating temperatures ranging from 1273 K to 1453 K and the heating rates ranging from 0.83 K/s to 40 K/s. The grain size of austenite was measured by using SISC IAS V8.0 image analysis software on Olympus PMG3 microscope. The experimental results showed that the coarse grains of austenite occurred at the heating temperature above 1413 K and the grain size of austenite increased with the increasing of heating temperature and decreased with the increasing of heating rate. The grain boundaries of austenite became flat and the angel of grain boundaries tended to 120˚ with the increasing of heating temperature. The grain boundaries of austenite increased and changed from flat to bend with the increasing of heating rate.