Overview of HSS Steel Grades Development and Study of Reheating Condition Effects on Austenite Grain Size Changes

Tibor Kvackaj; Jana Bidulská; Róbert Bidulský

doi:10.3390/ma14081988

Overview of HSS Steel Grades Development and Study of Reheating Condition Effects on Austenite Grain Size Changes

Materials (Basel). 2021 Apr 15;14(8):1988. doi: 10.3390/ma14081988.

Authors

Tibor Kvackaj¹, Jana Bidulská¹, Róbert Bidulský²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plastic Deformation and Simulation Processes, Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling, Institute of Materials and Quality Engineering, Technical University of Kosice, Vysokoskolska 4, 04200 Kosice, Slovakia.
² Asian Innovation Hub, P.O. Box c6, 04023 Kosice, Slovakia.

Abstract

This review paper concerns the development of the chemical compositions and controlled processes of rolling and cooling steels to increase their mechanical properties and reduce weight and production costs. The paper analyzes the basic differences among high-strength steel (HSS), advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) and ultra-high-strength steel (UHSS) depending on differences in their final microstructural components, chemical composition, alloying elements and strengthening contributions to determine strength and mechanical properties. HSS is characterized by a final single-phase structure with reduced perlite content, while AHSS has a final structure of two-phase to multiphase. UHSS is characterized by a single-phase or multiphase structure. The yield strength of the steels have the following value intervals: HSS, 180-550 MPa; AHSS, 260-900 MPa; UHSS, 600-960 MPa. In addition to strength properties, the ductility of these steel grades is also an important parameter. AHSS steel has the best ductility, followed by HSS and UHSS. Within the HSS steel group, high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel represents a special subgroup characterized by the use of microalloying elements for special strength and plastic properties. An important parameter determining the strength properties of these steels is the grain-size diameter of the final structure, which depends on the processing conditions of the previous austenitic structure. The influence of reheating temperatures (T_Reh) and the holding time at the reheating temperature (t_Reh) of C-Mn-Nb-V HSLA steel was investigated in detail. Mathematical equations describing changes in the diameter of austenite grain size (d_γ), depending on reheating temperature and holding time, were derived by the authors. The coordinates of the point where normal grain growth turned abnormal was determined. These coordinates for testing steel are the reheating conditions T_Reh = 1060 °C, t_Reh = 1800 s at the diameter of austenite grain size d_γ = 100 μm.

Keywords: abnormal grain growth; austenite grain size; high-strength steels (HSS); normal grain growth; reheating conditions.

Publication types

Review