The Influence of Precipitate Morphology on the Growth of Austenite Grain in Nb-Ti-Al Microalloyed Steels

The present study investigates the morphological evolution of carbonitrides and the effect of these precipitates on grain boundary pinning during pseudo-carburizing a Nb-Ti-Al microalloyed steel. The result indicated that three kinds of complex precipitates with different morphologies containing Nb, Ti, and Al respectively were observed in samples austenitized at different temperatures and times. The NbC and TiN precipitates played an important role in pinning grain boundaries and suppressing the growth of austenite grains, relying on the high thermal stability of TiN precipitates and small size of NbC precipitates. The precipitate characteristics affected the size of austenite grain. Based on the Zener pinning model, the effect of precipitate characteristic on austenite grain size was quantitatively analyzed. It is found that the existence of NbC and TiN precipitated at high temperature makes austenite grain growth difficult when austenite grain boundaries were pinned by fine and diffused precipitates.

Automated summary

This study investigates the morphological evolution of carbonitrides and their effect on grain boundary pinning during pseudo-carburizing in a Nb-Ti-Al microalloyed steel. The presence of three complex precipitates containing Nb, Ti, and Al was observed in samples treated at different temperatures and times. The NbC and TiN precipitates played a crucial role in inhibiting the growth of austenite grains by pinning grain boundaries, with the TiN precipitates offering high thermal stability and the NbC precipitates being small in size. The characteristics of the precipitates had an impact on the size of the austenite grains.