Formation and thermal stability of large precipitates and oxides in titanium and niobium microalloyed steel

Abstract

As-cast CC slabs of microalloyed steels are prone to surface and sub-surface cracking. Precipitation phenomena initiated. during solidification reduce ductility at high temperature. The unidirectional solidification unit is employed to simulate the solidification process during continuous casting. Precipitation behavior and thermal stability are systematically investigated. Samples of adding titanium and niobium to steels have been examined using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), electron probe X-ray microanalyzer (EPMA), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). It has been found that the addition of titanium and niobium to high-strength low-alloyed (HSLA) steel resulted in undesirable large precipitation in the steels, i.e., precipitation of large precipitates with various morphologies. The composition of the large precipitates has been determined. The effect of cooling rate on (Ti, Nb) (C, N) precipitate formation is investigated. With increasing the cooling rate, titanium-rich (Ti,Nb)(C,N) precipitates are transformed to niobium-rich (Ti, Nb) (C, N) precipitates. The thermal stability of these large precipitates and oxides have been assessed by carrying out various heat treatments such as holding and quenching from temperature at 800 and 1200 degrees C. It has been found that titanium-rich (Ti,Nb)(C,N) precipitate is stable at about 1200 degrees C and niobium-rich (Ti, Nb) (C, N) precipitate is stable at about 800 degrees C. After reheating at 1200 degrees C for 1 h, (Ca, Mn) S and TiN are precipitated from Ca-Al oxide. However, during reheating at 800 degrees C for 1 h, Ca-Al-Ti oxide in specimens was stable. The thermodynamic calculation of simulating the thermal process is employed. The calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental results.