Effect of cryogenic treatment on microstructure and properties of nuclear grade low carbon steel

doi:10.13251/j.issn.0254-6051.2025.01.013

Abstract

Abstract: In order to study the effect of cryogenic treatment on mechanical properties and microstructure evolution of nuclear grade mild steel, the mechanical properties and microstructure of 20 steel after different heat treatments were characterized by means of microhardness tester, XRD, SEM and TEM. The results show that the tempering treatment promotes the transformation of partial retained austenite into martensite and the precipitation of carbon atoms leading to martensite refinement, resulting in an increase in hardness from 468.5 HV0.1 of the quenched steel to 480.3 HV0.1 of the tempered steel. The cryogenic treatment promotes the transformation of the retained austenite into fine lath martensite in the tested steel, and at the same time, the cryogenic treatment causes lattice distortion in the martensite, which leads to the increase of stresses and defects such as dislocations in the microstructure, which in turn promotes the precipitation of carbon atoms in the martensite, leading to the enhancement of precipitation strengthening, resulting in the increase of hardness of the tested steel to 495.3 HV0.1 after quenching-cryogenic-tempering treatment.

Key words: mild steel, cryogenic treatment, microhardness, lath martensite, retained austenite

CLC Number:

TG161

Xu Ke, Hu Minglei, Zhang Wei, Hu Bin, Li Dongsheng, Liu Rencai. Effect of cryogenic treatment on microstructure and properties of nuclear grade low carbon steel[J]. Heat Treatment of Metals, 2025, 50(1): 81-87.

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