Mechanical and Electrochemical Behavior of a High Strength Low Alloy Steel of Different Grain Sizes

Various heat treatments applied to a fine-grained high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel resulted in producing different grain sizes. Optical and scanning electron microstructures of the different alloy states exhibited varying ferrite grains which have increased with the increase of annealing time and decrease of cooling rates. TEM structures of the as-received HSLA steel displayed characteristics microstructural features, distribution, and morphology of microalloy precipitates. Hardness and tensile strength values have decreased with the increase of grain sizes. Potentiodynamic electrochemical polarization of the different alloy states in 3.5 wt pct NaCl solution showed typical active metal/alloy behavior. Tensile specimens of the as-received and heat-treated alloy cathodically charged with hydrogen, followed by tensile testing, did not indicate any noticeable loss of ductility. FESEM fractographs of hydrogen-charged samples showed a few chain of voids in the presence of cup and cone ductile fracture features in tensile-tested samples without hydrogen charging as well.