J Mater Sci Technol ›› 2004, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (05): 567-570.

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Al on Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of the Ultrahigh Carbon Steels

Huifen PENG, Baoqi WANG, Jianjun ZHANG, Xiaoyan SONG, Xiaoli MA, Nanju GU   

  1. School of Materials Science & Engineering, Hebei University of Techonology, Tianjin 300130, China
  • Received:1900-01-01 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:2004-09-28 Published:2009-10-10
  • Contact: Huifen PENG

Abstract: In this research, we tried to find a simple processing method to break up the network carbides in ultrahigh carbon steels (UHCS). Our results revealed that Al addition was favorable to the decrease in the proeutectoid carbides, the pearlite-colony size and the pearlitic interlamellar spacing of the forged microstructures, and that a fully-pearlitic structure was obtained in the UHCS containing 1.6 wt pct Al. The quenching-and-tempering process resulted in fine microstructure in those steels. On the other hand, the strength of the UHCSs increased with the increase of the Al content, and the highest strength was obtained at the UHCS with 1.6 wt pct Al. The UHCSs with Al contents higher than 1.3 wt pct showed a high tensile strength of more than σ b=1000 MPa and good ductility of higher than δ5=10% at ambient temperature.

Key words: Ultrahigh-carbon steel, Al, Spheroidization