Precipitation Kinetics on a Nb-V Microalloyed Steel

摘要

The precipitation kinetics in a low carbon high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel,microalloyed with V+Nb has been studied by using the stress relaxation method.This technique was carried out in a dynamic dilatometer and allows to determine the onset and finishing precipitation times in hot deformed austenite.The evolution of the precipitates was also observed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) on samples quenched at different times at given temperatures.Discussion is completed with the predictions by the thermodynamic software FactSage to identify stable precipitate phases under equilibrium conditions.Results confirm the feasibility of the stress relaxation technique as an efficient method for investigating precipitation kinetics.