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Effect of Annealing on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Low-Carbon Steel with Ultrafine Grains

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Abstract

The microstructures and properties of the ultrafine-grained low-carbon steel were investigated. Martensite microstructure was obtained by quenching a low-carbon steel, followed by 50% strain cold rolling and then annealing at 500–650 °C for 2 and 30 min, respectively. Microstructures were observed, and tensile properties were measured for the specimens treated with cold rolling and annealing. The effects of annealing parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties were analyzed. It shows that the microstructure of specimen annealed at 550 °C for 30 min consists of ferrite grains with an average size of 330 nm. The ultrafine-grained low-carbon steel exhibits not only high tensile strength (867 MPa), but also good elongation (16.7%).

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 51274154), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2012AA03A504), and State Key Laboratory of Development and Application Technology of Automotive Steels (Baosteel Group).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Key Laboratory for Ferrous Metallurgy and Resources Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, 947 Heping Avenue, Qingshan District, Wuhan, 430081, China

    Junyu Tian, Guang Xu, Weicheng Liang & Qing Yuan

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  1. Junyu Tian
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  2. Guang Xu
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  3. Weicheng Liang
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  4. Qing Yuan
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Correspondence to Guang Xu.

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Tian, J., Xu, G., Liang, W. et al. Effect of Annealing on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of a Low-Carbon Steel with Ultrafine Grains. Metallogr. Microstruct. Anal. 6, 233–239 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13632-017-0350-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13632-017-0350-0

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