Low carbon microalloyed steels show interesting commercial possibilities by combining different “micro”-alloying elements when high strength and low temperature toughness properties are required. Depending on the elements chosen for the chemistry design, the mechanisms controlling the strengths and toughness may differ. In this paper, a detailed characterization of the microstructural features of three different microalloyed steels, Nb, Nb-Mo and Ti-Mo, is described using mainly the electron backscattered diffraction technique (EBSD) as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The contribution of different strengthening mechanisms to yield strength and impact toughness is evaluated, and its relative weight is computed for different coiling temperatures. Grain refinement is shown to be the most effective mechanism for controlling both mechanical properties. As yield strength increases, the relative contribution of precipitation strengthening increases, and this factor is especially important in the Ti-Mo microalloyed steel where different combinations of interphase and random precipitation are detected depending on the coiling temperature. In addition to average grain size values, microstructural heterogeneity is considered in order to propose a new equation for predicting ductile–brittle transition temperature (DBTT). This equation considers the wide range of microstructures analyzed as well as the increase in the transition temperature related to precipitation strengthening.

The synergetic effect on hardenability by combining boron with other microalloying elements (such as Nb, Mo and Nb + Mo) is widely known for high-strength medium carbon steels produced by direct quenching and subsequent tempering treatment. The improvement of mechanical properties could be reached through optimization of different mechanisms, such as solid solution hardening, unit size refinement, strain hardening, fine precipitation hardening and the effect of carbon in solid solution. The current study proposes a procedure for evaluating the contribution of different microstructural aspects on Charpy impact toughness. First, the effect that austenite conditioning has on low-temperature transformation unit sizes and microstructural homogeneity was analysed for the different microalloying element combinations. A detailed crystallographic characterization of the tempered martensite was carried out using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) in order to quantify the effect of unit size refinement and dislocation density. The impact of heterogeneity and presence of carbides was also evaluated. The existing equations for impact transition temperature (ITT50%) predictions were extended from ferrite-pearlite and bainitic microstructures to tempered martensite microstructures. The results show that microstructural refinement is most beneficial to strength and toughness while unit size heterogeneity has a particularly negative effect on ductile-to-brittle transition behaviour. By properly balancing alloy concept and processing, steel having a yield strength above 900 MPa and low impact transition temperature could be obtained by direct quenching and tempering.

Recently, advanced thermomechanical hot rolling schedules followed by direct quenching are being developed in order to avoid reheating and quenching treatment after hot rolling to eliminate an energy and cost consuming step. The use of boron as an alloying element is a widely known practice in high strength medium carbon steels to increase the strength due its potential for delaying phase transformation and improving hardenability. In addition, a significant synergetic effect on hardenability could be reached combining B with microalloying elements (adding Nb, Mo or Nb-Mo). With the purpose of exploring the effect of microalloying elements and thermomechanical rolling schedule, laboratory thermomechanical simulations reproducing plate mill conditions were performed using ultra high strength steels micro-alloyed with Nb, Mo, and Nb-Mo. To that end, plane compression tests were performed, consisting of an initial preconditioning step, followed by several roughing and finishing deformation passes and a final quenching step. After fast cooling to room temperature, a tempering treatment was applied. In the present paper, the complex interaction between the martensitic microstructure, the tempering treatment, the addition of microalloying elements, and the resulting tensile properties was evaluated. For that purpose, an exhaustive EBSD quantification was carried out in both quenched as well as quenched and tempered states for all the steel grades and the contribution of different strengthening mechanisms on yield strength was analyzed. Highest tensile properties are achieved combining Nb and Mo, for both quenched (Q) and quenched and tempered states (Q&T), reaching yield strength values of 1107 MPa and 977 MPa, respectively. Higher tempering resistance was measured for the Mo-bearing steels, making the CMnNbMoB steel the one with the lowest softening after tempering. For CMnB grade, the yield strength reduction after tempering of about 413 MPa was measured, while for NbMo micro-alloyed steel, yield strength softening is considerably reduced to 130 MPa.

Obtaining high levels of mechanical properties in steels is directly linked to the use of special mechanical forming processes and the addition of alloying elements during their manufacture. This work presents a study of a hot-rolled steel strip produced to achieve a yield strength above 600 MPa, using a niobium microalloyed HSLA steel with non-stoichiometric titanium (titanium/nitrogen ratio above 3.42), and rolled on a Steckel mill. A major challenge imposed by rolling on a Steckel mill is that the process is reversible, resulting in long interpass times, which facilitates recrystallization and grain growth kinetics. Rolling parameters whose aim was to obtain the maximum degree of microstructural refinement were determined by considering microstructural evolution simulations performed in MicroSim-SM^® software and studying the alloy through physical simulations to obtain critical temperatures and determine the CCT diagram. Four ranges of coiling temperatures (525–550 °C/550–600 °C/600–650 ° C/650–700 °C) were applied to evaluate their impact on microstructure, precipitation hardening, and mechanical properties, with the results showing a very refined microstructure, with the highest yield strength observed at coiling temperatures of 600–650 °C. This scenario is explained by the maximum precipitation of titanium carbide observed at this temperature, leading to a greater contribution of precipitation hardening provided by the presence of a large volume of small-sized precipitates. This paper shows that the combination of optimized industrial parameters based on metallurgical mechanisms and advanced modeling techniques opens up new possibilities for a robust production of high-strength steels using a Steckel mill. The microstructural base for a stable production of high-strength hot-rolled products relies on a consistent grain size refinement provided mainly by the effect of Nb together with appropriate rolling parameters, and the fine precipitation of TiC during cooling provides the additional increase to reach the requested yield strength values.

Cost-effective advanced design concepts are becoming more common in the production of thick plates in order to meet demanding market requirements. Accordingly, precipitation strengthening mechanisms are extensively employed in thin strip products, because they enhance the final properties by using a coiling optimization strategy. Nevertheless, and specifically for thick plate production, the formation of effective precipitation during continuous cooling after hot rolling is more challenging. With the aim of gaining further knowledge about this strengthening mechanism, plate hot rolling conditions were reproduced in low carbon Ti-Mo microalloyed steel through laboratory simulation tests to generate different hot-rolled microstructures. Subsequently, a rapid heating process was applied in order to simulate induction heat treatment conditions. The results indicated that the nature of the matrix microstructure (i.e., ferrite, bainite) affects the achieved precipitation hardening, while the balance between strength and toughness depends on the hot-rolled microstructure.

Heavy gauge line pipe and structural steel plate materials are often rolled in the two-phase region for strength reasons. However, strength and toughness show opposite trends, and the exact effect of each rolling process parameter remains unclear. Even though intercritical rolling has been widely studied, the specific mechanisms that act when different microalloying elements are added remain unclear. To investigate this further, laboratory thermomechanical simulations reproducing intercritical rolling conditions were performed in plain low carbon and NbV-microalloyed steels. Based on a previously developed procedure using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), the discretization between intercritically deformed ferrite and new ferrite grains formed after deformation was extended to microalloyed steels. The austenite conditioning before intercritical deformation in the Nb-bearing steel affects the balance of final precipitates by modifying the size distributions and origin of the Nb (C, N). This fact could modify the substructure in the intercritically deformed grains. A simple transformation model is proposed to predict average grain sizes under intercritical deformation conditions.