Conclusions
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1.
Adding as much as 0.5% Cu to steel microalloyed with boron (as much as 0.003%) increases the solubility of boron in austenite and prevents precipitation of brittle boron-containing phase in austenite grain boundaries. This simplifies the melting procedure for steels with boron.
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2.
In steels with a higher boron content (0.003–0.005%) that are additionally alloyed with copper the borides are evenly precipitated within grains and in grain boundaries as small equiaxed inclusions. No boride phase was detected in cast or rolled steel with 0.003% B and 0.41% Cu.
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3.
Adding copper to steel with boron increases the stability of supercooled austenite somewhat and has no negative effect on the hardenability of the steel.
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4.
After heat treatment, steel with boron and copper has higher values of the strength and especially the fracture toughness as compared with steel with boron but without copper. The ductility of the steel with both additions is fairly high and approaches that of unalloyed steel as the tempering temperature is raised. Adding copper lowers the ductile-brittle transition temperature of steel containing boron.
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Additional information
Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy, Dnepropetrovsk. Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 11, pp. 10–14, November, 1982.
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Malinochka, Y.N., Koval'chuk, G.Z. & Yarmosh, V.N. Structure and properties of low-carbon steel alloyed with boron and copper. Met Sci Heat Treat 24, 760–765 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00774730
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00774730