HOT DUCTILITY OF MICROALLOYED STEELS

The loss in ductility experienced by microalloyed steels at temperatures generally ranging from 700 to 1100 degrees C is a widely studied subject in steel research. The hot ductility behaviour of steels is usually measured through the reduction of area of the samples after hot tensile tests performed up to fracture. The so-called standard hot ductility curves are then obtained by testing the steel at different temperatures. With the aim of achieving more precise information about the hot deformability behaviour of microalloyed steels, interrupted hot-tensile tests followed by rapid quenching (i.e. to 'freeze" the microstructure) were carried out. Several steels were characterized by this method, followed by metallurgical investigations of the strained samples in order to identify the damage mechanisms and the precipitates affecting hot ductility. The paper presents a summary of the results achieved about the effects of chemical composition on hot cracking, as affected by precipitation of secondary phases at austenite grain boundaries.