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Influence of carbon content on microstructure and tempering behaviour of 2 1/4 Cr 1 Mo steel

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Abstract

Transmission electron microscopic studies aimed at elucidating the effect of carbon level on the tempering behaviour of 2 1/4 Cr 1 Mo steels have been carried out. Specimens with two different carbon levels (0.06% and 0.11 %) were cooled in flowing argon gas (AC) from an austenitization temperature of 1323 K and tempered at 823, 923 and 1023 K for times ranging from 2 to 50 h. The tempering behaviour at these temperatures for the two carbon levels is found to differ in the nature of secondary hardening at lower temperatures, variation in the time to peak hardness and the saturation level of hardness at long tempering times. Based on a detailed study, using analytical electron microscopy, on the morphology, crystallography and microchemistry of secondary phases, the factors governing the observed variations in tempering behaviour are related to the difference in the dissolution rate of bainite, nucleation of acicular M2C carbides and transformation rate of primary carbides into secondary alloy carbides. The carbides which promote softening were identified as M7C3, M23C6 and M6C, whereas hardening is mainly imparted by M2C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Metallurgy Section, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, 603 102, Kalpakkam, India

    P. Parameswaran, M. Vijayalakshmi, P. Shankar & V. S. Raghunathan

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  1. P. Parameswaran
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  2. M. Vijayalakshmi
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  3. P. Shankar
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  4. V. S. Raghunathan
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Parameswaran, P., Vijayalakshmi, M., Shankar, P. et al. Influence of carbon content on microstructure and tempering behaviour of 2 1/4 Cr 1 Mo steel. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE 28, 5426–5434 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00367811

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00367811

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