Effects of Tempering on Tensile Properties of Medium-Carbon Low-Alloy Steels

중탄소 저합금강의 인장성질에 미치는 템퍼링의 영향

A series of Ni-Cr-Mo alloy steels were austenitized, quenched to martensite, and tempered at various temperature and time conditions. Tensile testing was conducted at room temperature with cylindrical specimens, and hardness was measured using Rockwell hardness tester. In the tempering stage I, high strain hardening and yield strength accounted for the high ultimate strength and hardness. In the tempering stage II, strengths and hardness linearly decreased with increasing tempering temperature. Specimens tempered in the temperin stage III showed incipient discontinuous yielding and tensile strengths only slightly higher than yield strengths. Ductilities decreased slightly in specimens tempered in the tempered martensite embrittlement range, and severely decreased in specimens tempered for 10 hours at $500^{\circ}C$ in the temper embrittlement range. Specimens tempered at $600^{\circ}C$ for 10 hours showed recrystallized microstructures, a number of fine dimples, and increased strain hardening, probably due to the precipitation of alloy carbides. The simple formulae for the mechanical properties of these steels were suggested as a function of carbon content and Hollomon-Jaffe tempering parameter.