During the last two decades, finely dispersed, graphite nodules were observed in the microstructure of cold rolled and annealed sheet steels, even in low carbon steels. Graphitization has been a serious problem for sheet steel suppliers, because it impaired paintability and coating adherence to steel, and reduced the tensile strength of steels. In order to explore the graphite formation mechanism, the characteristics of graphite and carbide phases in cold worked and annealed low alloy sheet steels were investigated in this study. Graphite dissolution kinetics was demonstrated as a function of austenitizing temperature and time.
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