The relationship between microstructure parameters and mechanical properties was studied in this paper. The steel was heat-treated at different austenitizing temperatures to acquire varying microstructure. The results showed that austenite grain size increases with austenitizing temperature, while the pearlite colony size was relatively constant. The strength followed a Hall−Petch relationship with the austenite grain size, but the austenite grain size has nothing to do with the impact toughness. The control unit for determining the impact toughness of pearlitic steel is the pearlite colony size using a comparison method. Further studies have found that, in the hypoeutectoid steel and hypereutectoid steel, the pearlite colony size changes with the austenitizing temperature. However, when the eutectoid steel with a carbon content of 0.81% undergoes the isothermal transformation, the number of grain boundary precipitates is very few. There are many nucleation sites at the grain boundary. The pearlite colonies randomly nucleate at the grain boundaries and grow into the interior of the grains. Simultaneously, new pearlite colonies nucleate by the side of the existing pearlite colony. The intragranular pearlite colonies are also randomly nucleated. These nucleation sites increase the chance of the growing pearlite colonies colliding with each other, eventually resulting in a constant pearlite colony size.
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