Effect of microstructural banding in steel

Abstract

Tensile and notch-impact properties in wrought steel containing 0.25 pct C and 1.5 pct Mn, with and without elongated inclusions and processed so as to be severely banded or virtually free of microstructural banding, are compared. A short-time, high-temperature normalizing treatment removed the banded condition. Both banding and elongated inclusions cause anisotropy in tensile ductility and impact energy. Elimination of banding is effective in reducing anisotropy in clean steel, but results in only modest improvement in steel containing numerous elongated inclusions. Eliminating microstructural banding alters austenite transformation to only a small extent but improves subsequent machining and cold forming by replacing martensite concentrated in bands with randomly dispersed small volumes of martensite in steel incompletely transformed to ferrite and pearlite or to bainite. © 1971 The Metallurgical Society of American Institute of Mining.