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Austenite Grain Growth and Precipitate Evolution in a Carburizing Steel with Combined Niobium and Molybdenum Additions

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Abstract

Austenite grain growth and microalloy precipitate size and composition evolution during thermal processing were investigated in a carburizing steel containing various additions of niobium and molybdenum. Molybdenum delayed the onset of abnormal austenite grain growth and reduced the coarsening of niobium-rich precipitates during isothermal soaking at 1323 K, 1373 K, and 1423 K (1050 °C, 1100 °C, and 1150 °C). Possible mechanisms for the retardation of niobium-rich precipitate coarsening in austenite due to molybdenum are considered. The amount of Nb in solution and in precipitates at 1373 K (1100 °C) did not vary over the holding times evaluated. In contrast, the amount of molybdenum in (Nb,Mo)C precipitates decreased with time, due to rejection of Mo into austenite and/or dissolution of fine Mo-rich precipitates. In hot-rolled alloys, soaking in the austenite regime resulted in coarsening of the niobium-rich precipitates at a rate that exceeded that predicted by the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner relation for volume-diffusion-controlled coarsening. This behavior is attributed to an initial bimodal precipitate size distribution in hot-rolled alloys that results in accelerated coarsening rates during soaking. Modification of the initial precipitate size distribution by thermal processing significantly lowered precipitate coarsening rates during soaking and delayed the associated onset of abnormal austenite grain growth.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center at the Colorado School of Mines and its industrial sponsors. This work was partially supported by the EAPSI Program of the National Science Foundation as and the JSPS Summer Program under Award No. OISE-1107789. This work was also partially supported by the IMI Program of the National Science Foundation under Award No. DMR 0843934. Special thanks are extended to Professor Bruno De Cooman of the Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology at POSTECH, and Professor Nobuhiro Tsuji of Kyoto University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. General Motors LLC, GM Product Development – Materials Engineering, Warren, MI, 48090, USA

    Charles M. Enloe (Materials Engineer)

  2. George S. Ansell Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

    Kip O. Findley (Associate Professor) & John G. Speer (John Henry Moore Distinguished Professor, Director)

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  1. Charles M. Enloe
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  2. Kip O. Findley
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Correspondence to Charles M. Enloe.

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Manuscript submitted January 16, 2015.

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Enloe, C.M., Findley, K.O. & Speer, J.G. Austenite Grain Growth and Precipitate Evolution in a Carburizing Steel with Combined Niobium and Molybdenum Additions. Metall Mater Trans A 46, 5308–5328 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-015-3103-1

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