烧结后热处理对烧结硬化粉末冶金钢零件尺寸精度与力学性能的影响

在铁基粉末冶金零件的最终形生产中尺寸精度是一个关键参数.粉末冶金零件生产厂商一直在追求较大的零件,但终端用户规定的绝对公差一般并不随零件尺寸而改变.因此,对较大的零件,尺寸变化或尺寸变化的偏差必须减小.除了与常用低合金粉末冶金钢的压制与烧结相关的尺寸变化外,烧结硬化合金对粉末冶金零件生产还提出了一些独特挑战与机遇.在烧结炉中能淬硬的零件,就不要后续淬火作业了.可是,形成的未回火的马氏体显微结构对尺寸稳定性与力学性能来说并不理想.回火的淬硬钢由于马氏体转变成了密度较高的较稳定的铁素体与碳化物显微结构,从而改善了力学性能并使尺寸产生收缩.另外,许多铜及碳含量高的烧结硬化钢牌号都会导致残留奥氏体的含量较高.残留奥氏体可改进冲击性能与延展性,但是,由于热波动残余奥氏体可转变成密度较低的贝氏体和/或马氏体从而影响尺寸的稳定性.为得到最好的力学性能与尺寸控制组合,烧结硬化钢需要进行适当的热处理.本文考察不同的烧结后热处理对烧结硬化粉末冶金钢尺寸、显微结构以及力学性能的影响.     

粉末冶金铁基零件的烧结-硬化处理

粉末冶金铁基零件材料的力学性能都直接与其密度和显微组织相关。许多粉末冶金零件,为了在表面层或整个零件形成回火马氏体显微组织,都要进行热处理。可用"烧结-硬化"处理替代后续的淬火硬化作业。淬透性足够高的铁基粉末冶金材料,在烧结状态都可形成马氏体的百分含量相当高的显微组织。已开发出了烧结炉的加速冷却技术,其使用可对较大的零件进行"烧结-硬化"处理或用淬透性较低的材料生产横断面较小的"烧结-硬化"零件。将说明硬度与淬透性间的差异,阐述铁基粉末冶金材料的合金化方法是如何影响淬透性的。将介绍现有的"烧结-硬化"材料标准和讨论"烧结-硬化"工艺的优势与缺欠。     

烧结-硬化时冷却速率的影响

烧结-硬化正在成为应用范围较广的生产高强度粉末冶金零件的生产工艺。这种工艺能够使钢件在烧结炉中直接形成马氏体,使得用这种工艺生产的零件性能接近于淬火-回火钢件的性能。也省掉了单独的热处理作业,经济效益也很高。因为烧结-硬化的成功取决于烧结后加速冷却时,钢件稳定地形成高含量马氏体显微组织的能力。所以本文将研究从烧结温度开始冷却速率的变化对粉末冶金钢的显微组织、硬度及性能的影响。也将进一步说明如何利用比较设备末端淬火与烧结炉的冷却曲线来改进烧结-硬化工艺。     

热处理工艺对9Cr钢组织与力学性能的影响

利用热膨胀试验研究了9Cr钢随冷却速度变化的相变行为,设定奥氏体化温度分别为860和1000℃,利用 OM、SEM、TEM、XRD和室温拉伸对比研究不同热处理温度下9Cr钢的显微组织及力学性能.研究表明：随着冷却速度增加,9 Cr 钢发生铁素体/珠光体相变、贝氏体相变和马氏体相变,其中马氏体相变临界冷速为1.6℃/s;860℃热处理后9Cr钢的显微组织为板条贝氏体/马氏体和少量等轴铁素体,并有4％的残余奥氏体;奥氏体化温度升至1000℃后,奥氏体晶粒尺寸增加,9Cr 钢中铁素体几乎消失,板条特征更加明显,力学性能与860℃热处理后基本相同,均达到 HL级抽油杆钢的要求,说明9Cr钢具有较宽的工艺窗口.     

形变过程中TRIP效应的相变热动态研究

采用拉伸与测温试验同时进行的方法,将应力应变曲线与热能曲线相结合,动态研究热轧TRIP钢拉伸过程中的相变热.研究表明:热轧TRIP钢在拉伸过程中材料增加的热能由部分转变的塑性功和马氏体相变热组成,因此,拉伸过程中实际测得的试样热能高于由塑性功转变的热能.利用平均综合热能损失系数对低速拉伸的TRIP钢的热能进行补充,通过计算与推导,证实了试样在刚进入塑性变形时,一定数量的较不稳定残余奥氏体首先集中发生马氏体相变,随着应变的进一步加大,剩余的较稳定的残余奥氏体根据其稳定情况发生马氏体相变的数量逐渐减少,在试样均匀延伸结束前绝大部分残余奥氏体已转变为马氏体.结合相变热变化可动态描述热轧TRIP钢形变过程中马氏体相变的情况.      

残余奥氏体中的碳元素在TRIP钢变形前后的分布

利用TEM和EPMA对TRIP钢中残余奥氏体形貌以及碳元素的分配进行了研究,发现TRIP钢中的残余奥氏体以多种形态分布,且碳在残余奥氏体中的浓度显著高于其他两相中的浓度,此时残余奥氏体可以通过EPMA中的贫硅区表示;变形之后的残余奥氏体将会发生相变,通过TEM发现残余奥氏体在受到应力作用而发生相变之后转变为细小的立方马氏体,且由于碳原子来不及扩散,马氏体中的含碳量和奥氏体中的含碳量基本相同。     

激光硬化粉末烧结钢的组织结构及耐磨性

两种Fe-Ni-Cr-Cu-Mo-C系粉末烧结钢宽带激光硬化处理表明,激光硬化的粉末烧结钢表面层的组织结构由马氏体、贝氏体、残余奥氏体和游离态石墨等组成.激光硬化处理显著改善了粉末烧结钢的耐磨性.     

粉末冶金高速钢的热处理与热磁分析

采用综合物理测试系统的振动样品磁强计选件(PPMS-VSM),对回火处理时的粉末冶金高速钢进行热磁分析测量。退火态粉末冶金高速钢中的铁素体含量约为70.5%(体积分数)。淬火态粉末冶金高速钢在回火处理的升温阶段,有碳化物从马氏体中析出。在回火处理的保温和降温阶段,残余奥氏体向马氏体转变。淬火态钢中的马氏体含量约为44.6%,在第1次、第2次、第3次回火后,钢中马氏体含量分别约为67.5%、70.0%和70.3%。     

热成形用钢热冲压过程中碳配分行为研究

利用Formastor-FⅡ全自动相变仪、扫描电镜、透射电镜及电子探针等,研究一种热成形用钢热冲压过程中的碳配分行为。结果表明,典型热冲压模拟过程可获得马氏体和残余奥氏体两相组织,且马氏体板条较长,残余奥氏体以薄膜状分布在马氏体板条间;马氏体的边缘处有碳的偏聚,富碳区域的尺寸和残余奥氏体尺寸相吻合,即实验钢在400℃以下的缓慢冷却过程中发生了碳配分。     

添加高速钢粉对烧结钢组织与性能的影响

研究了添加高速钢粉对烧结钢组织与性能的影响。实验结果表明，含２０％高速钢的烧结钢综合力学性能最好；添加高速钢粉能导致烧结钢密度减小的冲击韧性降低，当高速钢含量增中时，硬度随之增加，烧结钢中残余奥氏体和马氏体的含量与高速钢的含量呈线性关系。烧结钢中的马氏体显微硬度很高，它主要原高速钢粒子和原铁粒子的连接区域形成。     

Strain induced martensite formation in PM nickel steels

Abstract

Powder metallurgy (PM) nickel steels are often selected because they have high strength, high impact resistance and good abrasion resistance. The microstructure of slowly cooled PM nickel steels typically contains pearlite, bainite, martensite and a fair volume fraction of retained austenite. Since volume diffusion is really low at conventional sintering temperatures [1120–1150°C (≈2050–2100°F)], nickel rich areas are usually found where prior admixed nickel particles were located, i.e. at the surface of iron particles and in sintering necks. Therefore, there is a discrepancy between the rather low mechanical properties of austenite and the high strength of PM nickel steel. Hence, the hypotheses that stress induced or strain induced martensite formation takes place during mechanical testing have been investigated. Results show that martensite forms during mechanical testing, and its final volume fraction is proportional to nickel content.     

Influence of Thermal Aging on the Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of Dual-Phase, Precipitation-Hardened, Powder Metallurgy Stainless Steels

The effects of thermal aging on the microstructure and mechanical behavior of dual-phase, precipitation-hardened, powder metallurgy (PM) stainless steels of varying ferrite–martensite content were examined. Quantitative analyses of the inherent porosity and phase fractions were conducted on the steels, and no significant differences were noted with respect to aging temperature. Tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation to fracture all increased with increasing aging temperature reaching maxima at 811 K (538 °C) in most cases. Increased strength and decreased ductility were observed in steels of higher martensite content. Nanoindentation of the individual microconstituents was employed to obtain a fundamental understanding of the strengthening contributions. Both the ferrite and martensite nanohardness values increased with aging temperature and exhibited similar maxima to the bulk tensile properties.     

A Novel Ni-Containing Powder Metallurgy Steel with Ultrahigh Impact,Fatigue, and Tensile Properties

The impact toughness of powder metallurgy (PM) steel is typically inferior, and it is further impaired when the microstructure is strengthened. To formulate a versatile PM steel with superior impact, fatigue, and tensile properties, the influences of various microstructures, including ferrite, pearlite, bainite, and Ni-rich areas, were identified. The correlations between impact toughness with other mechanical properties were also studied. The results demonstrated that ferrite provides more resistance to impact loading than Ni-rich martensite, followed by bainite and pearlite. However, Ni-rich martensite presents the highest transverse rupture strength (TRS), fatigue strength, tensile strength, and hardness, followed by bainite, pearlite, and ferrite. With 74 pct Ni-rich martensite and 14 pct bainite, Fe-3Cr-0.5Mo-4Ni-0.5C steel achieves the optimal combination of impact energy (39 J), TRS (2170 MPa), bending fatigue strength at 2 × 10⁶ cycles (770 MPa), tensile strength (1323 MPa), and apparent hardness (38 HRC). The impact energy of Fe-3Cr-0.5Mo-4Ni-0.5C steel is twice as high as those of the ordinary high-strength PM steels. These findings demonstrate that a high-strength PM steel with high-toughness can be produced by optimized alloy design and microstructure.     

Simulated effects of martensite start temperature,thermal conductivity and pore content on end quench cooling rate

Abstract

Process modelling, based on finite difference methods, is used to show that the thermal conductivity increases, which typically attend the martensite transformation in steel, affect the cooling rate in the Jominy end quench test. A one-dimensional model, which includes the effects of material property variations, is presented that predicts slightly increased cooling rates with increases in the M _s temperature for fully dense steels and significantly increased rates for powder metallurgy (PM) steels. The model is based on earlier studies of the end quench test that initially showed increased cooling rates in PM steels versus fully dense ones and then went on to show water penetration of the pores as a causative mechanism. In the present study, it is shown that by combining a simple theory of this mechanism with the aforementioned M _s effects, it is possible to obtain cooling curves that display a marked resemblance to the experimentally observed ones of these earlier studies.     

Understanding contribution of microstructure to fracture behaviour of sintered steels

Abstract

Microstructural features of sintered steels, which comprise both phases and porosity, strongly condition the mechanical behaviour of the material under service conditions. Many research activities have dealt with this relationship since better understanding of the microstructure–property correlation is the key of improvement of current powder metallurgy (PM) steels. Up to now, fractographic investigation after testing has been successfully applied for this purpose and, more recently, the in situ analysis of crack evolution through the microstructure as well as some advanced computer assisted tools. However, there is still a lack of information about local mechanical behaviour and strain distributions at the microscale in relation to the local microstructure of these steels, i.e. which phases in heterogeneous PM microstructures contribute to localisation of plastic deformation or which phases can impede crack propagation during loading. In the present work, these questions are addressed through the combination of three techniques: (i) in situ tensile testing (performed in the SEM) to monitor crack initiation and propagation; (ii) digital image correlation technique to trace the progress of local strain distributions during loading; (iii) fractographic examination of the loaded samples. Three PM steels, all obtained from commercially available powders but presenting different microstructures, are examined: a ferritic–pearlitic Fe–C steel, a bainitic prealloyed Fe–Mo–C steel and a diffusion alloyed Fe–Ni–Cu–Mo–C steel, with more heterogeneous microstructure (ferrite, pearlite, upper and lower bainite, martensite and Ni rich austenite).     

Influence of martensite composition and content on the properties of dual phase steels

A study has been made of the mechanical properties of dual phase (martensite plus ferrite) structures produced when Fe-Mn-C alloys are quenched from the austenite plus ferrite phase field, so as to give a series of alloys with constant ferrite and martensite compositions but varying percent martensites. It is found that the strength of a dual phase structure is dependent on the ferrite grain size and the volume fraction of martensite, and is independent of the composition and strength of the martensite. In agreement with previous work the ductility of these steels is superior to that for standard HSLA steels at the same tensile strength. As shown in a previous paper the strength and ductility as a function of percent martensite are in agreement with Mileiko’s theory of composites of two ductile phases. This theory and the results indicate that the superior ductility of dual phase steels is largely a consequence of the high strength (fine grained), highly ductile (low interstitial content) ferrite matrix.     

900MPa热轧板Q-P-T工艺及其工程可行性的研究

 基于合金设计制备出2种低合金试验热轧板钢,在采用水淬＋盐浴回火的淬火-分配-回火（Q-P-T）工艺处理后,达到了屈服强度900MPa和伸长率15％的设计指标,为后期自行设计的单道次穿水淬火冷却装置用于热轧板的Q-P-T工艺工程可行性的研究奠定了基础。X射线衍射、扫描电镜和透射电镜的微观组织分析表明:与传统的淬火回火（Q&T）工艺相比,Q-P-T先进高强度钢中位错型板条马氏体基体及其内弥散分布的合金碳化物贡献于高的强度,板条马氏体间的薄片状奥氏体贡献于优良的塑性。此外,还进一步探讨了Q-P-T工艺中残余奥氏体的作用和多道次穿水淬火冷却装置用于不同厚度热轧板在线Q-P-T处理的可行性。     

Stress-Assisted and strain-induced martensites in FE-NI-C alloys

A metallographic study was made of the martensite formed during plastic straining of metastable, austenitic Fe-Ni-C alloys withM _s temperatures below 0°C. A comparison was made between this martensite and that formed during the deformation of two TRIP steels. In the Fe-Ni-C alloys two distinctly different types of martensite formed concurrently with plastic deformation. The large differences in morphology, distribution, temperature dependence, and other characteristics indicate that the two martensites form by different transformation mechanisms. The first type, stress-assisted martensite, is simply the same plate martensite that forms spontaneously belowM _s except that it is somewhat finer and less regularly shaped than that formed by a temperature drop alone. This difference is due to the stress-assisted martensite forming from cold-worked austenite. The second type, strain-induced martensite, formed along the slip bands of the austenite as sheaves of fine parallel laths less than 0.5μm wide strung out on the {111}_γ planes of the austenite. Electron diffraction indicated a Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation for the strain-induced martensite relative to the parent austenite. No stress-assisted, plate martensite formed in the TRIP steels; all of the martensite caused by deformation of the TRIP steels appeared identical to the strain-induced martensite of the Fe-Ni-C alloys. It is concluded that the transformation-induced ductility of the TRIP steels is a consequence of the formation of strain-induced martensite. Formerly a graduate student at Stanford University