Abstract
Two low alloy Cr and CrMo steels with similar levels of carbon, manganese and chromium have been studied to determine the effect of tempering temperature on the mechanical properties and microstructure. The quenching and tempering of steels were carried out using a high-speed dilatometer. The steels were quenched at the average cooling rate of 30 K s-1 in the temperature range from 1123 to 573 K by flowing argon and tempered at 673, 823 and 973 K. The martensite of steels formed during quenching was of entire lath morphology with 2 vol% retained austenite. It was found that after tempering at 973 K the Cr steel contained only orthorhombic cementite, while the CrMo steel contained the cementite and hexagonal Mo2C particles in the ferrite matrix. At the same tempering conditions, the CrMo steel shows higher strength but lower ductility as compared to those of Cr steel. It is shown that this difference results from finer prior austenite grain, substructure within matrix and precipitate dispersion strengthening, primarily by Mo2C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) bright- and dark-field micrographs as well as selected area diffraction pattern analysis of orientation relationship showed that the cementite precipitated from the ferrite matrix. Fractography analysis showed that the morphology fracture surface was changed by increasing tempering temperature. Tempering at 973 K obtained ductile fracture by the microvoid coalescence mechanism.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
P. J. Grobner, D. L. Sponseller and D. E. Diesburg, Mater. Perf. 14 (1975) 35.
N. Gope, A. Chatterjee, T. Mukherjee and D. S. Sarma, Metall. Trans. 24A (1993) 315.
P. J. Naylor, ibid. 10A (1979) 861.
Y. Tomita and K. Okabayashi, ibid. 17A (1986) 1203.
B. Uhrenius, in “Hardenability concepts with applications to steel”, edited by D. V. Doane and J. S. Kirkaldy (AIME, Warrendale, 1978) p. 28.
R. G. Baker and J. Nutting, J. Iron Steel Inst. 192 (1959) 257.
M. C. Murphy and G. D. Branch, ibid. 209 (1971) 546.
J. Pilling and N. Ridley, Metall.Trans. 13A (1982) 557.
V. A. BisŠ and T. Wada, ibid. 16A (1985) 109.
B. D. Craig, Metall.Trans. 13A (1982) 23.
J. M. Chilton and P. M. Kelly, Acta Metall. 16 (1968) 637.
Y. Tomita and K. Okabayashi, Metall Trans. 18A (1987) 115.
M. Enomoto, S. H. Song, K. Yamada, M. Shimizu and T. Kunio, J. Soc. Mech. Eng. 40 (1974) 407.
S. Weissmann (ed.) “Search manual for selected powder diffraction data for metals and alloys”, (JCPDS International center for Diffraction Data, Pennsylvania, Swarthmore, 1978).
M. GojiĆ, A. PreloŠČan and M. Malina, Metalurgija 30 (1991) 161.
B. C. Craig, Metall. Trans. 13A (1982) 1099.
M. Hillert, ISIJ Int. 35 (1995) 1134.
L. J. Habraken and M. Economopoulos, “Transformation and hardenability in steels” (Climax Molybdenum Company, Ann Arbor, MI, 1967) p. 69.
M. E. Bush and P. M. Kelly, Acta metall. 19 (1971) 1363.
H. P. Offer, J. F. Copeland, J. L. Yuen and W. D. Challenger, in “Effects of melting and processing variables on the mechanical properties of steels”, edited by G. V. Smith (ASME, New York, NY, 1977) p. 195.
R. L. Klueh and J. L. Griffith, J. Mater. Energy Syst. 3 (1981) 26.
D. L. Sponseller, R. Garber and T. B. Cox, in Proceedings of the First International Conference on Current Solutions to Hydrogen Problems in Steels, Washington DC, November 1982, edited by C. G. Interrante and G. M. Pressouyre (ASM, Metals Park, Ohio, 1982) p. 200.
R. Kaspar, U. Lotter and C. Biegus, Steel Res. 65 (1994) 242.
M. Sarikaya, B. G. Steinberg and G. Thomas, Metall. Trans. 13A (1982) 2227.
B. V. N. Rao and G. Thomas, ibid. 11A (1980) 441.
J. Yu, ibid. 20A (1989) 1561.
R. D. Griffin, R. A. Dodd, G. L. Kulcinski and D. S. Gelles, ibid. 21A (1990) 1853.
J. Janovec, A. Vyrostkova and A. Holy, J. Mater. Sci. 27 (1992) 6564.
H. Tsubakino and H. I. Aaronson, Metall. Trans. 18A (1987) 2047.
J. B. Baird and A. Jamieson, J. Iron Steel Inst. (London) 210 (1972) 847.
R. L. Klueh, Mater. Sci. Engng 35 (1978) 239.
P. L. Winter and R. L. Woodward, Metall.Trans. 17A (1986) 307.
S. Saroja, M. Vijayalakshimi and V. S. Raghunathan, {ti J. Mater. Sci.} 27 (1992) 2389.
R. O. Ritchie, Metall. Trans. 8A (1977) 1131.
S. Yu and C. J. McMahon Jr., ibid. 11A (1980) 277.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gojic, M., Kosec, L. & Matkovic, P. The effect of tempering temperature on mechanical properties and microstructure of low alloy Cr and CrMo steel. Journal of Materials Science 33, 395–403 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004375914591
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004375914591