Influence of effective grain size on low temperature toughness of high-strength pipeline steel

Abstract

In this study, the series temperature Charpy impact and drop-weight tear test (DWTT) were investigated, the misorientation angles among structural boundaries where the cleavage crack propagated were identified, and angles of [100] cleavage planes between adjacent grains along the cleavage crack propagated path were calculated in five directions (00, 300, 450, 600, and 900 to the rolling direction) of high-grade pipeline steel. Furthermore, the effective grain size (grain with misorientation angles greater than 150) was redefined, and the quantitative influences of the redefined effective grain size on Charpy impact and DWTT is also discussed synthetically. The results showed that the microstructure presented a typical acicular ferrite characteristic with some polygonal ferrite and M-A islands (composed of martensite and retained austenite), and the distribution of the high-angle grain boundaries were mainly distributed in the range of 450-650 in different directions. The Charpy impact energy and percent shear area of DWTT in the five directions increased with refinement of the redefined effective grain size, composed of grains with [100] cleavage planes less than 350 between grain boundaries. The ductile-to-brittle transition temperature also decreased with the refining of the redefined effective grain size. The redefined effective grain boundaries can strongly hinder fracture propagation through electron backscattered diffraction analysis of the cleavage crack path, and thus redefined effective grain can act as the effective microstructure unit for cleavage.