Effect of Hot Torsion Parameters on Development of Ultrafine Ferrite Grains in Microalloyed Steel

Hot torsion testing was performed on a low carbon Nb-Ti microalloyed steel to study the effects of hot torsion parameters, strain and strain rate, on ultrafine ferrite grains production through dynamic strain-induced transformation, at a deformation temperature just above Ar3. The initiation and evolution of ultrafine ferrite grains were studied. The results show that the amount of strain and strain rate has conversely effect on the volume fraction and grain size of ultrafine ferrite grains. With increasing strain, the interior of austenite grains become activated as nucleation sites for fine ferrite grains. As a result, ferrite grains continuously nucleate not only at the former austenite grain boundaries but also inside the austenite grains which leads to a rapid increase in volume fraction of ultrafine grains. Increasing of strain rate reduces the tendency of ferrite grains coarsening so that ultrafine ferrite grains are achieved, while the volume fraction of ultrafine grains decreases at the same strain level.