Correlations of Ni Contents, Formation of Reversed Austenite and Toughness for Ni-Containing Cryogenic Steels

It has been widely demonstrated that addition of Ni in low-carbon steels can effectively improve the cryogenic toughness, but the mechanism behind it has yet to be clarified. In the present work, the evolutions of microstructure and mechanical properties after quenching and tempering for Ni-containing cryogenic steels with different Ni contents (3.5-9 wt%) were investigated. The results showed that after quenching and tempering, the Ni-containing cryogenic steels were composed of tempered martensite and reversed austenite. The volume fraction of reversed austenite has increased from 0 up to 6.3% when the Ni content increases from 3.5% to 9%. The Charpy impact tests indicated that the lowtemperature toughness was markedly improved with the increase in Ni content, which can be correlated with the increase in reversed austenite amount. The main contribution of reversed austenite to the toughness lies in: (1) the elimination of cementite precipitates improved the plastic deformation capacity of matrix, and (2) the crack propagation is hindered through plastic deformation.