Effects of Austenitization Temperature and Pre-Deformation on CCT Diagrams of 23MnNiCrMo5-3 Steel

The combined effect of deformation temperature and strain value on the continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagram of low-alloy steel with 0.23% C, 1.17% Mn, 0.79% Ni, 0.44% Cr, and 0.22% Mo was studied. The deformation temperature (identical to the austenitization temperature) was in the range suitable for the wire rolling mill. The applied compressive deformation corresponded to the true strain values in an unusually wide range. Based on the dilatometric tests and metallographic analyses, a total of five different CCT diagrams were constructed. Pre-deformation corresponding to the true strain of 0.35 or even 1.0 had no clear effect on the austenite decomposition kinetics at the austenitization temperature of 880 °C. During the long-lasting cooling, recrystallization and probably coarsening of the new austenitic grains occurred, which almost eliminated the influence of pre-deformation on the temperatures of the diffusion-controlled phase transformations. Decreasing the deformation temperature to 830 °C led to the significant acceleration of the austenite → ferrite and austenite → pearlite transformations due to the applied strain of 1.0 only in the region of the cooling rate between 3 and 35 °C·s^-1. The kinetics of the bainitic or martensitic transformation remained practically unaffected by the pre-deformation. The acceleration of the diffusion-controlled phase transformations resulted from the formation of an austenitic microstructure with a mean grain size of about 4 µm. As the analysis of the stress-strain curves showed, the grain refinement was carried out by dynamic and metadynamic recrystallization. At low cooling rates, the effect of plastic deformation on the kinetics of phase transformations was indistinct.

Correlation among the Power Dissipation Efficiency, Flow Stress Course, and Activation Energy Evolution in Cr-Mo Low-Alloyed Steel

In the presented research, conventional hot processing maps superimposed over the flow stress maps or activation energy maps are utilized to study a correlation among the efficiency of power dissipation, flow stress, and activation energy evolution in the case of Cr-Mo low-alloyed steel. All maps have been assembled on the basis of two flow curve datasets. The experimental one is the result of series of uniaxial hot compression tests. The predicted one has been calculated on the basis of the subsequent approximation procedure via a well-adapted artificial neural network. It was found that both flow stress and activation energy evolution are capable of expressing changes in the studied steel caused by the hot compression deformation. A direct association with the course of power dissipation efficiency is then evident in the case of both. The connection of the presence of instability districts to the activation energy evolution, flow stress course, and power dissipation efficiency was discussed further. Based on the obtained findings it can be stated that the activation energy processing maps represent another tool for the finding of appropriate forming conditions and can be utilized as a support feature for the conventionally-used processing maps to extend their informative ability.