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Micrometer-scale synchrotron diffraction mapping analysis of carbide precipitation in deep cryogenically treated low carbon steel

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Abstract

Carbide precipitation within low carbon AISI H13 hot work tool steel that had either been quenched at 80 °C or cryogenically treated at −196 °C prior to tempering has been examined using micrometer-scale synchrotron diffraction mapping. Vanadium-rich cubic M8C7 carbide, lattice parameter of approximately 0.8610 nm, not identifiable using laboratory powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD), was found to be present in all samples. The concentration of this phase was greatest in the rapidly cooled cryogenically treated sample. However, all cryogenic treatments resulted in greater carbide concentrations than in the quenched sample. In addition rapid cryogenic cooling by immersion in liquid nitrogen (N2), as compared with slow cooling to −196 °C over a 3 h duration, results in greater order within the carbide phase subsequent to tempering, as interpreted by analysis of unit cell size variation, and the smallest stress, as interpreted by diffraction peak full width half maximum height distributions.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Wenjun Liu, XOR/UNI-CAT, APS and Steve Heald, PNC-CAT, APS for their advice. The use of the APS was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. We acknowledge travel funding provided by the Australian Synchrotron Research Program. The authors appreciate the financial support provided by the University of South Australia in the form of a University President Scholarship (UPS) and the Applied Centre for Structural and Synchrotron Studies in a form of an ACeSSS scholarship. Also the authors express their gratitude to Tijun Lu, Applied Centre for Structure and Synchrotron Studies, University of South Australia for the help with implementation of IDL software. The participation of ARG in this research was supported under the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Project funding scheme (Project No. LP0562210) which was sponsored by Rio Tinto and the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, State Government of Victoria.

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  1. Minerals and Materials Science & Technology, Mawson Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, South Australia, 5095, Australia

    Ning Xu, Giuseppe P. Cavallaro & Andrea R. Gerson

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  1. Ning Xu
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  2. Giuseppe P. Cavallaro
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  3. Andrea R. Gerson
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Correspondence to Andrea R. Gerson.

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Xu, N., Cavallaro, G.P. & Gerson, A.R. Micrometer-scale synchrotron diffraction mapping analysis of carbide precipitation in deep cryogenically treated low carbon steel. Journal of Materials Research 27, 2122–2130 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.135

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