Interphase precipitation and application to practical steels+1

Abstract

Interphase precipitation is a phenomenon in which precipitates are generated on interphase boundaries during phase transformation, creating carbides having a form like bands or fibers in micro-alloyed steels. In isothermal transformation, a lower transformation temperature reduces the carbide diameter and band spacing, and a higher cooling rate reduces them in the continuous cooling process. Various interphase precipitation mechanisms have been suggested, and some models for the ledge mechanism attempted to explain the regular band spacing in steels containing carbide-forming elements quantitatively. Recently, as the orientation relationship in the grains of the interphase boundary is not consistent with the ledge mechanism, three-dimensional interface structures have been suggested to explain the experimental results of observation by transmission electron microscopy in low carbon steel. The newly-proposed interphase structure model may explain both the ledge and quasi-ledge mechanisms. Steels with tensile strength of more than 590 MPa, which are manufactured by using interphase precipitated carbides, have been developed and used practically not only in plate and sheet products but also in forged products to improve formability. In steels consisting of ferrite and a second hard phase, interphase precipitated carbides are used to realize high local ductility and to reduce the difference of hardness between the two phases. Ferritic steels strengthened by nanometer-sized carbides are developed to achieve excellent formability, realizing precipitation-strengthening of more than 300MPa.