TY - JOUR

T1 - Nanoprecipitation in bearing steels

AU - Barrow, A. T.W.

AU - Rivera-Díaz-Del-Castillo, P. E.J.

PY - 2011/11

Y1 - 2011/11

N2 - θ-phase is the main hardening species in bearing steels and appears in both martensitically and bainitically hardened microstructures. This work presents a survey of the microstrucural features accompanying nanoprecipitation in bearing steels. Nanoprecipitate structures formed in 1C-1.5Cr wt.% with additions of Cr, Mn, Mo, Si and Ni are studied. The work is combined with thermodynamic calculations and neural networks to predict the expected matrix composition, and whether this will transform martensitically or bainitically. Martensite tetragonality, composition and the amount of retained austenite are related to hardness and the type of nanoprecipitate structures in martensitic grades. The θ-phase volume fraction, the duration of the bainite to austenite transformation and the amount of retained austenite are related to hardness and a detailed quantitative description of the precipitate nanostructures. Such description includes compositional studies using energy-dispersive spectroscopy, which shows that nanoprecipitate formation takes place under paraequilibrium. Special attention is devoted to a novel two-step bainite tempering process which shows maximum hardness; we prove that this is the most effective process for incorporating solute into the precipitates, which are finer than those resulting from one-step banitic transformation processes.

AB - θ-phase is the main hardening species in bearing steels and appears in both martensitically and bainitically hardened microstructures. This work presents a survey of the microstrucural features accompanying nanoprecipitation in bearing steels. Nanoprecipitate structures formed in 1C-1.5Cr wt.% with additions of Cr, Mn, Mo, Si and Ni are studied. The work is combined with thermodynamic calculations and neural networks to predict the expected matrix composition, and whether this will transform martensitically or bainitically. Martensite tetragonality, composition and the amount of retained austenite are related to hardness and the type of nanoprecipitate structures in martensitic grades. The θ-phase volume fraction, the duration of the bainite to austenite transformation and the amount of retained austenite are related to hardness and a detailed quantitative description of the precipitate nanostructures. Such description includes compositional studies using energy-dispersive spectroscopy, which shows that nanoprecipitate formation takes place under paraequilibrium. Special attention is devoted to a novel two-step bainite tempering process which shows maximum hardness; we prove that this is the most effective process for incorporating solute into the precipitates, which are finer than those resulting from one-step banitic transformation processes.

KW - Carbides

KW - Nanostructure

KW - Precipitation

KW - Steels

KW - Tempering

U2 - 10.1016/j.actamat.2011.08.007

DO - 10.1016/j.actamat.2011.08.007

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:80053175094

VL - 59

SP - 7155

EP - 7167

JO - Acta Materialia

JF - Acta Materialia

SN - 1359-6454

IS - 19

ER -