Effect of phosphorous and boron addition on microstructural evolution and Charpy impact properties of high-phosphorous-containing plain carbon steels

Four plain carbon steels were fabricated by controlling the addition of P and B, and then isothermal heat-treatments were conducted at 550 °C and 650 °C for 3 h on these steels to make ferrite–pearlite-based or ferrite–bainite-based microstructures, respectively. B was added for controlling the reduction in toughness due to grain boundary segregation of P because B was readily distributed on grain boundaries. In the 550 °C-treated steels, bainite grains were refined by the B addition, whereas the 650 °C-treated steels did not show the grain refinement due to the B addition. According to the critical time analysis for non-equilibrium grain boundary segregation of P and B, the present isothermal treatment time of 3 h was too short for the grain boundary segregation of P, and thus the fracture occurred mostly in a cleavage mode, instead of an intergranular mode. Since this 3 h-treatment time was too long for the grain boundary segregation of B, the grain boundary segregation of B was reduced, and the precipitation of cementites was promoted. In the 550 °C-treated steels, the area fraction of intergranular fracture increased with increasing volume fraction of grain boundary cementites, as they played an important role in initiating the intergranular fracture, although the area fraction of intergranular fracture was lower than 5%. In the 650 °C-treated steels having coarse grains, however, grain boundary cementites did not work for intergranular fracture because the crack readily propagated in a cleavage mode.