Microstructure Evolution During Hot Deformation of a Micro-Alloyed Steel

Abstract

In the present investigation, hot deformation by uniaxial compression of a microalloyed steel has been carried out, using a deformation dilatometer, after homogenization at 1200 °C for 20 min up to strains of 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 at different temperatures of 900, 1000 and 1100 °C, at a constant strain rate of 2 s−1 followed by water quenching. In all the deformation conditions, initiation of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) is observed, however, stress peaks are not observed in the specimens deformed at 900 and 1000 °C. The specimens deformed at 900 °C showed a combination of acicular ferrite (AF) and bainite (B) microstructure. There is an increase in the acicular ferrite fraction with increase in strain at all these deformation temperatures. At high deformation temperature of 1100 °C, coarsening of DRXed grains is observed. This is attributed to the common limitations involved in fast quenching of the DRXed microstructure, which leads to increase in grain size by metadynamic recrystallization (MDRX). The strain free prior austenite grains promote the formation of large fraction of both bainite and martensite in the transformed microstructures during cooling. The length and width of bainitic ferrite laths also increases with increase in deformation temperature from 900 to 1100 °C and decrease in deformation strain.