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Acicular ferrite formation during isothermal holding in HSLA steel

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Abstract

Microstructural observation and high-resolution dilatometry were employed to investigate acicular ferrite formation during isothermal holding in the HSLA steel. A decrease in isothermal temperature suppresses formation of polygonal ferrite and promotes formation of acicular ferrite. Island-like martensite/austenite constituents are dispersed inside of the acicular ferrite grain. The displacive model assuming autocatalytic nucleation was developed to describe the incomplete transformation phenomenon well. Decrease of isothermal temperature lowers the activation energy, and thus enhances the formation of acicular ferrite. Increase of amount of polygonal ferrite and acicular ferrite both results in decrease of M s. Formation of polygonal ferrite causes diffusion of solute alloying atoms into the untransformed austenite, which lowers M s. Acicular ferrite transformation suppresses martensitic transformation by diffusion of solution atoms during isothermal holding, and introduction of internal stress resulting from volume expansion during FCC → BCC transformation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists (Granted No. 51325401), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Granted No. 51501126), the National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Energy Research Project (Granted No. 2015GB119001), and the Key Project of Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Granted No. 13JCZDJC32300) for Grant and financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, People’s Republic of China

    Chenxi Liu, Lei Shi, Yongchang Liu, Chong Li, Huijun Li & Qianying Guo

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  1. Chenxi Liu
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  2. Lei Shi
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  3. Yongchang Liu
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Correspondence to Qianying Guo.

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Liu, C., Shi, L., Liu, Y. et al. Acicular ferrite formation during isothermal holding in HSLA steel. J Mater Sci 51, 3555–3563 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9675-8

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