Tempforming as an advanced processing method for carbon steels

Abstract

The microstructural mechanisms providing delamination toughness in high-strength low-alloyed steels are briefly reviewed. Thermo-mechanical processing methods improving both the strength and impact toughness are described, with a close relation to the microstructures and textures developed. The effect of processing conditions on the microstructure evolution in steels with different carbon content is discussed. Particular attention is paid to tempforming treatment, which has been recently introduced as a promising processing method for high-strength low-alloyed steel semi-products with beneficial combination of strength and impact toughness. Tempforming consists of large strain warm rolling following tempering. In contrast to ausforming, the steels subjected to tempforming may exhibit an unusual increase in the impact toughness with a decrease in test temperature below room temperature. This phenomenon is attributed to the notch blunting owing to easy splitting (delamination) crosswise to the principle crack propagation. The relationships between the crack propagation mode, the delamination fracture, and the load-displacement curve are presented and discussed. Further perspectives of tempforming applications and promising research directions are outlined.