Microstructure, Precipitation, and Mechanical Properties of V-N-Alloyed Steel After Different Cooling Processes

Three cooling processes (direct air cooling, water cooling to 1023 K and 873 K (750 °C and 600 °C) followed by air cooling) after hot rolling are designed to develop V-N-alloyed 600 MPa grade high-strength steel for architectural construction. Microstructural characteristics, precipitation behavior, and mechanical properties were investigated. Experimental results indicate that all microstructures are composed of polygonal ferrite and pearlite. Compared to the microstructure obtained from traditional direct air cooling, the grain size of ferrite is refined from 6.5 to 4.6 μm and the interlamellar spacing of pearlite decreases from 136 to 45 nm, respectively, by the application of accelerated cooling and lower finish cooling temperature. The number fraction of high misorientation angle boundaries increases from 44 to 51 pct. Moreover, the sheet spacing of interphase precipitates decreases from (23 to 26 nm) to (14 to 17 nm) and the size of V(C,N) particles reduces from (5 to 8 nm) to (2 to 5 nm). Furthermore, the optimal mechanical properties are obtained in the steel water cooled to 873 K (600 °C), of which the yield strength, tensile strength, total elongation, uniform elongation, and impact energy at room temperature are 753 MPa, 922 MPa, 22 pct, 11 pct, and 36 J, respectively. Besides, the high yield strength is primarily attributed to the refined grains and precipitation hardening from interphase and random precipitation of nano-scale V(C,N) particles.