Effect of Alloying Elements and Structure on the Properties of Low-Carbon Heat-Treatable Steel

• Published in: Metal science and heat treatment Vol. 43; no. 9-10; pp. 331 - 335
• Main Authors: Malyshevskii, V A, Semicheva, T G, Khlusova, E I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Nature B.V 01.09.2001
• ISSN: 0026-0673; 1573-8973
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1013618431400

Shipbuilding high-strength steels should provide high strength, ductility, and toughness in combination with a high resistance to brittle fracture and a good weldability. In this connection, producers prefer those methods of heat treatment that combine the hardening effect with hampered propagation of cracks. The dominant mechanism of hardening of low-carbon heat-treatable steels is the formation of a high dislocation density with a favorable distribution of dislocations and the formation of a finely disperse carbide phase in tempering. When the content of carbon in the composition is diminished in order to improve the weldability, complex alloying becomes very important for the provision of hardenability, elimination of the formation of ferrite-pearlite structures, hardening, and elevation of the resistance to brittle fracture. In the present work we studied the complex effect of alloying elements in low-carbon heat-treatable chromium-nickel-copper-molybdenum steel on the phase transformations that occur in quenching and tempering.