Influence of Aluminum on the Hot Ductility of a High-Strength Steel

The influence of Al contents (0.035, 0.5, and 0.8%) on hot ductility of high-strength steel was studied by experimental hot tensile tests in the temperature range of 600-1300 degrees C and under the strain rate of 0.001 s(-1) by a Gleeble-1500 thermal simulation machine. According to the tensile results, the true stress-strain curve was obtained and the reduction of area was calculated. The results showed that when the Al content was 0.035%, the reduction of area of steel was less than 40% at 600, 700, 750, and 850 degrees C, and when the Al content was 0.5%, the reduction of area was less than 40% at 600-1000 degrees C and more than 40% at 1000-1300 degrees C; when the Al content was 0.8%, the reduction of area was less than 40% at 650-1050 degrees C. Overall, the hot ductility was the worst when the Al content was 0.5%. In addition, the fracture morphology of the samples was observed by the scanning electron microscope.