Mn-Series Low-Carbon Air-Cooled Bainitic Steel Containing Niobium of 0.02% Original Research Article

A new hot rolled low-carbon air-cooled bainitic steel containing Nb of 0.02% has been developed based on alloying design of the grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite (Fgba)/granular bainite (Bg) duplex steel. The as-rolled microstructure and mechanical properties of bainitic steel containing Nb of 0.02% were investigated by tensile test, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that adding 0.02% of Nb obviously improves the strength without sacrificing toughness of the Fgba/Bg steel. Adding 0.02% of Nb not only refines the grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite grains but also promotes the refinement of granular bainite including its bainitic ferrite and M/A island. Any Nb(C,N) has been hardly observed in the steel containing Nb of 0.02%. It is suggested that the strengthening mechanism of Nb of 0.02% can be mainly attributed to the effect of Nb in solution (solute drag-like effect) on the phase transformation rather than the precipitation strengthening of Nb(C,N) particles.