THE EFFECTS OF DOUBLE AUSTENITIZATION ON THE MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF A 0.34C CONTAINING LOW-ALLOY NI-CR-MO-V STEEL

This article considers five different microstructures of a tempered martensitic 0.34C, 3Ni-1.3Cr-0.4Mo-0.1V steel through various heat treatments, including double austenitization (DA) treatments, and how the impact toughnesses are influenced by microstructure. Of the four mechanisms considered to explain the beneficial effect of DA treatment, the roles of retained austenite, grain-boundary embrittlement by impurity segregation, and matrix flow stress are discounted. The 50 pct fracture appearance transition temperature (FATT) of this steel is found to be dependent on both the grain size and the carbide dissolution. The conventionally treated steel contains mainly platelike M3C Carbides. The DA treatment helps to dissolve VC carbides and coarsen and spheroidize M3C Carbides in favor of the precipitation of short rodlike M7C3 carbides with a lower aspect ratio. The improvement of impact toughness (upper shelf energy, ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT), and lower shelf energy) by DA treatment, explained in detail, is attributed to a change of this material's tensile and work-hardening behavior affected by a variation of carbide morphology.