Abstract
The extent to which the nitride formers B, Zr, Ti and Al can be used to improve the properties of C–Mn hot rolled steels has been investigated. Of these nitride formers, a high aluminium addition, ∼0·2%, was the most effective, giving extremely good impact properties with no loss in strength. An impact transition temperature as low as −100°C can be obtained with this Al addition in a silicon killed 0·1%C, 1·4%Mn steel. It is believed that the aluminium may be behaving in a similar manner to silicon and that the improvement in impact behaviour is most likely due to a reduction in the gradient of the Hall–Petch strength–impact relationship, i.e. the ky value, owing to the removal of the interstitials which segregate to the ferrite grain boundaries. Further work is required to examine this hypothesis.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.