• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.636-642
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• 2017

In the present study the microstructure of low-carbon steels fabricated by controlled rolling and accelerated cooling processes was characterized and identified based on various microstructure analysis methods including optical and scanning electron microscopy, and electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD). Although low-carbon steels are usually composed of ${\alpha}-ferrite$ and cementite($Fe_3C$) phases, they can have complex microstructures consisting of ferrites with different size, morphology, and dislocation density, and secondary phases dependent on rolling and accelerated cooling conditions. The microstructure of low-carbon steels investigated in this study was basically classified into polygonal ferrite, acicular ferrite, granular bainite, and bainitic ferrite based on the inverse pole figure, image quality, grain boundary, kernel average misorientation(KAM), and grain orientation spread(GOS) maps, obtained from EBSD analysis. From these results, it can be said that the EBSD analysis provides a valuable tool to identify and quantify the complex microstructure of low-carbon steels fabricated by controlled rolling and accelerated cooling processes.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.561-571
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• 1999

Microstructure and mechanical properties of five Cr-Mo steels for nuclear industry applications have been investigated. Transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, differential scanning calorimeter, hardness, tensile, and impact test were used to evaluate the Cr and W effect on the microstructure and mechanical properties. Microstructures of Cr-Mo steels after tempering are classified into three types : bainitic 2.25Cr-lMo steel, martensitic Mod.9Cr-lMo, HT9M, and HT9W steels, and dual phase HT9 steel. The majority of the precipitates were found to be M$_{23}$C$_{6}$ carbides. As minor phases, fine needle-like V(C,N), spherical NbC, fine needle-like Cr-rich Cr$_2$N, and Cr-rich M$_{7}$C$_3$were also found. Addition of 2wt.% W in Cr-Mo steels retarded the formation of subgrain and dissolution of Cr$_2$N precipitates. Hardness and ultimate tensile strength increased with increasing Cr content. Though Cr content of HT9W steel was lower than that of HT9 steel, the hardness of HT9W was higher due to the higher W content. W added HT9W steel had the highest ultimate tensile strength above $600^{\circ}C$. But impact toughness of W added steel (HT9W) and high Cr steel (HT9) was low.w.w.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.156-160
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• 2001

The effects of TRansformation Induced Plasticity(TRIP) phenomena on the plastic deformation of 0.2C-1.5Si-1.5Mn multiphase steels have been investigated at various heat treatment and stress conditions. In order to estimate the formability, the hole expansion(HE) tests and the tensile tests were carried out. The formability evaluated from the uni-axial tensile tests was quite different from the formability measured from multi-axial HE-tests. Consequently, the formability in the multi-axial stress state decreased due to the extinction of the retained austenite relatively at earlier deformation stage and the production of irregular α' martensite. However, the defects of TRIP-steels were initiated exactly at the boundary between transformed martensite and ferrite matrix regardless of stress state. In addition, new experimental formula is proposed in order to predict the multi-axial formability of the TRIP steels from the results of uniaxial tensile test.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.211-220
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• 2019

In this study, three kinds of bainitic steel plates are manufactured by varying the chemical compositions and their microstructures are analyzed. Tensile and Charpy impact tests are performed at room and low temperature to investigate the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties. In addition, heat affected zone (HAZ) specimens are fabricated by a simulation of welding processes, and the HAZ microstructure is analyzed. The base steel that has the lowest carbon equivalent has the highest volume fraction of acicular ferrite and the lowest volume fraction of secondary phases, so the strength is the lowest and the elongation is the highest. The Mo steel has a higher volume fraction of granular bainite and more secondary phases than the base steel, so the strength is high and the elongation is low. The CrNi steel has the highest volume fraction of the secondary phases, so the strength is the highest and elongation is the lowest. The tensile properties of the steels, namely, strength and elongation, have a linear correlation with the volume fraction of secondary phases. The Mo steel has the lowest Charpy impact energy at $-80^{\circ}C$ because of coarse granular bainite. In the Base-HAZ and Mo-HAZ specimens, the hardness increases as the volume fraction of martensite-austenite constituents increases. In the CrNi-HAZ specimen, however, hardness increases as the volume fraction of martensite and bainitic ferrite increases.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.127-133
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• 2003

The effect of chemical composition on the microstructural change and tensile property in TRIP-assisted steels with different chemical composition was investigated by using SEM, TEM, XRD and UTM. As a result of microscopic observation, the morphology of retained austenite could be identified as two types; a granular type in a steel containing higher Si and a film type in a steel having higher C. For the case of higher C-containing steel with a tensile strength of 860 MPa and a total elongation of 38%, film-typed retained austenite could be observed between lath bainitic ferrite. Actually, metastable retained austenite was a requisite for the good formability, which means that chemical composition plays a significant role in the microstructure and tensile property of TRIP-assisted steels. With respect to tensile property, the steels containing suitable Si and Mn, respectively, showed a typical TRIP effect in stress-strain curve, while a steel containing higher Mn content exhibited the similar behavior shown in dual phase steel.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 1993

Isothermal transformation behavior during patenting and variations of microstructure and tensile strength of patented wires were investigated in Si-added high carbon steel. The TTT curves of the steels were made for two different austenitizing temperature. As the salt bath temperature was increased, the observed microstructures were bainite at $450^{\circ}C$, the mixture of bainite and pearlite at $500^{\circ}C$, and to pearlite at $600^{\circ}C$, The tensile strength of patented wire exhibited the highest value when the structure was pearlite. while the bainitic structure showed the lowest.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.133-140
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• 2014

Cleavage fracture behaviors were investigated in Ni-Mo-Cr steels with mixed microstructure of lower bainite and martensite. As the size of carbide decreased, the cleavage fracture strength increased, which was independent of the sizes of grain and packet. The measured cleavage fracture strengths were in good agreement with cleavage fracture strengths calculated by Petch model rather than by modified Griffith model in micro-structures with fine carbides, the size of which were small below a few hundred nanometer.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.52
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• pp.10.1-10.15
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• 2022

The effect of carbon doping contents on the microstructure, hardness, and corrosion properties of heat-treated AISI steel grades of plain carbon steel was investigated in this study. Various microstructures including coarse ferrite-pearlite, fine ferrite-pearlite, martensite, and bainite were developed by different heat treatments i.e. annealing, normalizing, quenching, and austempering, respectively. The developed microstructures, micro-hardness, and corrosion properties were investigated by a light optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, electromechanical (Vickers Hardness tester), and electrochemical (Gamry Potentiostat) equipment, respectively. The highest corrosion rates were observed in bainitic microstructures (2.68-12.12 mpy), whereas the lowest were found in the fine ferritic-pearlitic microstructures (1.57-6.36 mpy). A direct correlation has been observed between carbon concentration and corrosion rate, i.e. carbon content resulted in an increase in corrosion rate (2.37 mpy for AISI 1020 to 9.67 mpy for AISI 1050 in annealed condition).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.106-113
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• 2007

The effect of chemical composition on the microstructural change and tensile property in TRIP-assisted steels with different chemical composition was investigated by using SEM, TEM, XRD and UTM. As a result of microscopic observation, the morphology of retained austenite could be identified as two types : a granular type in a steel containing higher sillicon and a film type in a steel having higher carbon. For the case of higher carbon-containing steel with a tensile strength of 860 MPa and a total elongation of 38%, film-typed retained austenite could be observed between lath bainitic ferrite. Actually, metastable retained austenite was a requisite for the good formability, which means that chemical composition plays a significant role in the microstructure and tensile property of TRIP-assisted steels. With respect to tensile property, the steels containing suitable silicon and manganese, respectively, showed a typical TRIP effect in stress-strain curve, while a steel containing higher manganese content exhibited the assimilar behavior shown in dual phase steel.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.196-205
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to enhance the hardenability and the mechanical properties by the addition of alloying elements such as Ni, Cr, Mo and B for the development of Cr-Mo plastic mold steel with uniform hardness and microstructure. The ingots were prepared by vacuum induction melting and forged to ${\Phi}35mm$ round bar. Forged bars were quenched and tempered at $200{\sim}600^{\circ}C$ for 1.5 hour. Jominy test, boron distribution observation, microstructual observation, tensile test and charpy impact test were conducted. It was confirmed that the hardenablity of these steels was improved by increasing of alloying elements and further promoted by the addition of boron. The critical rate of cooling required to obtain the bainitic structure for 0.27C-1.23Cr-0.28Mo-B steel was $0.5^{\circ}C/sec$. Hardness and strength of Cr-Mo steels decreased with increasing tempering temperature, but elongation and reduction of area increased with increasing tempering temperature. However, impact energy tempered at $400^{\circ}C$ showed the lowest value in the range $200{\sim}600^{\circ}C$ due to the temper embrittlement.