Effect of Thermomechanical Processing on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Nb-Ti-V Microalloyed Steel

The paper presents the results of thermomechanical treatment via forging on the microstructure and mechanical properties of newly obtained microalloyed steel containing 0.28% C, 1.41% Mn, 0.027% Nb, 0.028% Ti, and 0.019% V. The investigated steel is assigned to the production of forged elements for the automotive industry. Conditions of forging using the thermomechanical processing method were developed based on plastometric tests. Continuous and double-hit compression tests were conducted using the Gleeble 3800 thermomechanical simulator. The samples were investigated in a temperature range from 900 to 1100 °C and a strain rate of 1 and 10 s⁻¹. To determine the recrystallization kinetics of plastically deformed austenite, discontinuous compression tests of samples using the applied deformation were conducted in a temperature range from 900 to 1100 °C with isothermal holding of the specimens between successive deformations for 2-100 s. Observations of the microstructures of thin foils were conducted using a TITAN80-300 FEI transmission electron microscope. The applied thermomechanical treatment allows to obtain a fine-grained microstructure of the austenite during hot-working and production of forged parts. These acquire advantageous mechanical properties and guaranteed crack resistance after controlled cooling from the end plastic deformation temperature and successive tempering. Forgings produced using the thermomechanical treatment method, consecutively subjected to tempering in a temperature range from 550 to 650 °C, reveal values of YS_0.2 which equal from 994 to 892 MPa, UTS from 1084 to 958 MPa, KV from 69 to 109 J, KV⁻⁴⁰ from 55 to 83 J, and a hardness ranging from 360 to 300 HBW.