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Effect of Cyclic Quenching on the Austenite Stability and Work Hardening Behavior of Medium-Mn Quenching and Partitioning Steel Enabled by Intercritical Annealing

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Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of cyclic heating quenching pretreatment on the structural evolution and mechanical properties of medium-Mn steels. The pretreatment had a significant effect on austenite morphology, content, and element diffusion as well as promoted a significant increase in elongation. As the number of pretreatment cycles increased to three, the austenite morphology tended to change from martensite/austenite island, blocky to thin film-like with an average size of ~0.14 μm, which resulted in a transformation rate of 78.30% austenite and a total elongation from 16 to 24.6%. This can be attributed to the strain hardening due to lattice distortion and high density of dislocations caused by pretreatment, the delay of the transformation induced plasticity effect by the morphologically stabilized austenite and the more concentrated degree of elemental enrichment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, 250101, Jinan, China

    L. Liu, Z. H. Zhang, T. T. Li, S. Z. Zhao, C. N. Jing, T. Lin & J. R. Zhao

  2. Naval University of Aeronautics and Astronautics—Qingdao Campus, 266041, Qingdao, China

    B. R. Shan

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Liu, L., Shan, B.R., Zhang, Z.H. et al. Effect of Cyclic Quenching on the Austenite Stability and Work Hardening Behavior of Medium-Mn Quenching and Partitioning Steel Enabled by Intercritical Annealing. Phys. Metals Metallogr. 123, 1451–1460 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031918X2110104X

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031918X2110104X

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