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Effect of Cooling Rate on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Eutectoid Steel Under Cyclic Heat Treatment

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Abstract

A systematic study has been carried out to ascertain the effect of cooling rate on structure and mechanical properties of eutectoid steel subjected to a novel incomplete austenitization-based cyclic heat treatment process up to 4 cycles. Each cycle consists of a short-duration holding (6 min) at 775 °C (above A1) followed by cooling at different rates (furnace cooling, forced air cooling and ice-brine quenching). Microstructure and properties are found to be strongly dependent on cooling rate. In pearlitic transformation regime, lamellar disintegration completes in 61 h and 48 min for cyclic furnace cooling. This leads to a spheroidized structure possessing a lower hardness and strength than that obtained in as-received annealed condition. On contrary, lamellar disintegration does not occur for cyclic forced air cooling with high air flow rate (78 m3 h−1). Rather, a novel microstructure consisting of submicroscopic cementite particles in a ‘interweaved pearlite’ matrix is developed after 4 cycles. This provides an enhancement in hardness (395 HV), yield strength (473 MPa) and UTS (830 MPa) along with retention of a reasonable ductility (%Elongation = 19) as compared to as-received annealed condition (hardness = 222 HV, YS = 358 MPa, UTS = 740 MPa, %Elongation = 21).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Durgapur, West Bengal, 713209, India

    Soma Maji, Amir Raza Subhani, Bijay Kumar Show & Joydeep Maity

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  1. Soma Maji
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  2. Amir Raza Subhani
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  3. Bijay Kumar Show
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  4. Joydeep Maity
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Correspondence to Joydeep Maity.

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Maji, S., Subhani, A.R., Show, B.K. et al. Effect of Cooling Rate on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Eutectoid Steel Under Cyclic Heat Treatment. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 26, 3058–3070 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-017-2779-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-017-2779-3

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