Effect of martensite-austenite constituents on impact toughness of pre-tempered MnNiMo bainitic steel

The martensite-austenite constituents are known to deteriorate the impact toughness of alloyed steel. In order to reduce this adverse effect, the pre-tempering process at low temperatures was introduced before the tempering of intercritical heat treatment process of a MnNiMo bainitic steel. The effects of pre-tempering temperature on the decomposition of martensite-austenite constituents and impact toughness properties of the pre-tempered specimens were investigated. The results of instrumented Charpy V-notch impact testing show that the impact toughness of the materials can be significantly improved by the pre-tempering process, especially for the condition of pre-tempering at 400 degrees C. After pre-tempering at 400 degrees C, more martensite-austenite constituents are decomposed into ferrite and small carbides, resulting in the reduction of microcracks nucleation sites. The residual martensite-austenite constituents become mainly the island-like, which can effectively hinder the propagation of secondary cracks. In addition, the pre-tempering at 400 degrees C increases the fraction of high-angle grain boundaries and refines the size of blocks, which can effectively prevent or deflect the propagation of microcracks. All of those microstructure changes are beneficial to the crack propagation energy. The results suggest that the application of the pre-tempering process is a feasible method to enhance the impact toughness of the studied alloyed steel.