Ultrafine grain refinement in a low alloy steel

The phenomenon of grain refinement was studied in a steel containing 0.15% C, 0.32% Si, 1.4% Mn, and 0.43% V. Initial austenite grain size was found to be 50 μm, determined by quenching the specimen in an iced brine solution from 1150 °C. Transformational grain refinement (TGR) was applied to give a reasonable refinement in the grain size. A rolling reduction of about 67% was given to specimens at 900 °C, which was followed by air cooling. Cold rolling and recrystallization of these specimens gave refinement of grains down to 1 μm size was obtained. The electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) technique was used to determine low- and high-angle grain boundaries that are effectively used to determine the substructure contribution at various stages of recrystallization.