Yoshihiko Ono

Effect of Ferrite Grain Boundary on Strain Aging Behavior in Nb-Bearing Ultra-Low-Carbon Steel Sheets

Effect of grain boundary on strain ageing behaviour of Nb-bearing ULC steel sheets has been studied at the aging temperature from 70 to 220°C, using 2% pre-strained specimens with different ferrite grain sizes of 9.5μm and 183μm. Two different hardening stages were exhibited in the fine-grain specimen, whereas only a single hardening stage was shown in the large-grain specimen. The increase in YP of the first hardening stage was around 30MPa; the activation energy of this stage was estimated to be from 83 to 86kJ/mol, which is close to that of body diffusion of carbon atoms in α-Fe. The increase in YP of the second hardening stage reached 90MPa; the activation energy was 135kJ/mol, which is close to that of body diffusion of Fe atoms in grain boundary and precipitation of η-carbide. From TEM observations and nanoindentation analyses, it was inferred that the dominant mechanism could be dislocation pinning by carbon atoms for the first hardening stage, and grain boundary hardening or hardening around it for the second.

DEVELOPMENT OF IF HIGH STRENGTH STEEL WITH FINE GRAIN STRUCTURE FOR EXPOSURE PANEL

New type of IF high strength steel (HSS) has been developed by hybridizing the grain refinement and the supplemental solid-solution hardening. Grain refinement was achieved by the fine distribution of carbide under the appropriate combination of the higher carbon content near 60ppm and niobium. Although the grain refinement is an effective method to improve the toughness of steel, this method has formability. While this steel has the fine grain structure, yield ratio is decreased due to the unique carbide distribution, and r-value is improved by the favourable texture formation. As the result, it has been clarified that a new type of 440MPa grade grain-refined IF-HSS improved the press-formability and exhibited a superior secondary work-embrittlement to the conventional IF-HSS. (A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E121867.