Grain Refinement Mechanism and Microstructural Evolution of M50NiL Steel during Multi-directional Impact Forging

This study investigated the effect of varying temperatures and cumulative strains on M50NiL steel during multi-directional impact forging (MDIF). The grain size was found to increase gradually with increasing temperature, after being held at 1050, 1100, 1150 and 1180 °C for 30 min, with the minimum grain size observed at 1100 °C during the MDIF process. The M50NiL steel subjected to MDIF at 1100 °C and at varying cumulative strains of 0.6, 1.8, 3.6 and 7.2 exhibited grain sizes that decreased with increasing cumulative strain. The mean grain size gradually decreased to ~ 1 μm at a cumulative strain of 7.2. New small grains were nucleated at grain boundaries via dynamic recrystallization, and microbands were formed via the temperature drop during the continuous forging process. The grains were subdivided into subgrains by the microbands, and these subgrains were converted to new refined grains via transformation of their boundaries into high-angle boundaries. Further, martensite transformation was restrained owing to the grain refinement. Improved tensile strengths values are obtained after MDIF process.