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Influence of Heat Treatments on Microstructure and Toughness of 9%Ni Steel

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Abstract

The 9%Ni low-carbon steel is applied to utilities and processes at temperatures as low as − 196 °C. However, the microstructural features play an important role on the mechanical properties. Notably, the cryogenic toughness and mechanical strength are strongly dependent on the final heat treatment. In this paper, the microstructure of a 9%Ni low-carbon steel was modified by different heat treatments. The hardness and cryogenic toughness were measured and correlated to microstructural features. The material shows a temper embrittlement with intergranular cracking and minimum cryogenic toughness after tempering around 400 °C. Austempering at 480 °C also produced very low toughness results. On the other hand, excellent cryogenic toughness was obtained with single tempering at 600 °C after quenching or normalizing. Even higher toughness was obtained with the double tempering at 670 °C/2 h plus 600 °C/2 h. The amount of reversed austenite and its morphology in the specimen quenched and tempered at 600 °C were shown in the paper.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Brazilian research agencies CNPq, FAPERJ and CAPES.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Passo da Pátria, 156, Niterói, CEP 24210-240, Brazil

    S. S. M. Tavares & C. R. Rodrigues

  2. Centro Federal de Educação Celso Sucow, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica e Tecnologia de Materiais, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    S. S. M. Tavares

  3. Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

    C. A. S. de Oliveira

  4. Programa de Engenharia Metalúrgica e de Materiais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    C. B. Woyames & J. Dille

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  1. S. S. M. Tavares
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  2. C. R. Rodrigues
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  3. C. A. S. de Oliveira
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  4. C. B. Woyames
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Correspondence to S. S. M. Tavares.

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Tavares, S.S.M., Rodrigues, C.R., de Oliveira, C.A.S. et al. Influence of Heat Treatments on Microstructure and Toughness of 9%Ni Steel. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 27, 1530–1536 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3257-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3257-2

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