EFFECT OF AGING BEFORE REPEATED COLD TREATMENT

ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF STEEL N26T

UDC 621.785.78:620.17:669.141.24

S. V. Dianov, V. A. Radchenko,
V. A. Rudman, and V. P. Severinov

In recent years parts of complex shape have been manufactured from nonmagnetic steels
that can be hardened by phase strain hardening.
With the same strength as precipitationhardening nonmagnetic steels, these steels have higher ductility and fracture toughness.
Steels hardened by phase strain hardening have still other advantages over precipitation-hardening nonmagnetic steels -- better machinability, good plasticity, and relatively
low resistance to deformation at high temperatures, which permits the manufacture of parts
of complex shape by forging or extrusion.
However, phase strain hardening steels have been investigated relatively little.
It
is of great importance to optimize the heat treatment conditions in order to increase the
strength.
The high strength of these steels is due mainly to phase strain hardening during the
direct and reverse martensitic transformations.
Consequently, the more complete the
martensitic y ~ transformation (the more austenite that is transformed to martensite),
the higher the strength.
It is known [i, 2] that a limited quantity of martensite is formed during the y +
transformation in several Ni--Ti steels hardened by phase strain hardening, but increasing
the number of y ~ y cycles does not increase the amount of martensite transformed.
In
this connection a study of heat treatments that increase the quantity of transformed martensite is of great practical interest.
The purpose of this work was to determine the possibility of increasing the completeness of the martensitic transformation as the result of aging before repeated cold treatment (with repetition of the y ~ ~ cycle).
The study was conducted with steel N26T (0.05% C, 26% Ni, 1-1.2% Ti).
16 mm in diameter were given the following heat treatments:

Forged bars

i) Normalization at 950C, holding 3 h.

2) Aging at 640 , holding 12 h.*
Aging leads to impoverishment of the y solid solution due to precipitation of excess
Ni3Ti and thus to an increase of Ms and the amount of ~ phase formed during the cold treatment.
Raising the aging temperature to 650-700 has no noticeable effect on the ~ ~ transformation.
3) The first cold treatment is in liquid nitrogen

(--196).

4) Intermediate aging at 500, 550, 600, and 625 with holding for 10-30 h.
5) Second cold treatment in liquid nitrogen.
6) Aging at 350 for 3 h.
7) Austenitizing at 700, 720, and 740 with holding for 3 h.
8) Final aging at 560 for 12 h.
For comparison,
mediate aging.

some of the samples were subjected to one cold treatment without inter-

*Inventor's Certificate No.

448235.

Translated from Metallovedenie

June, 1980.

454

i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 6, pp. 59-61,

0026-0673/80/0506- 0454507.50

1981 Plenum Publishing Corporation

~,%
7O

f30

f2o

~I

.I ~r1"

500

550 goo FSo c

7O

F i g . 1. M e c h a n i c a l p r o p e r t i e s
o f s t e e l N26T i n r e l a t i o n to
intermediate-aging temperature.

0) Austenitizing temperature
740; x )

720;

I)

Fig. 2. Microstructure of steel

malization (original condition);
ment; c) after aging at 625 for
treatment; e) after austenitizing
560 for 12 h.

700 .

N26T (300).
a) After norb) after first cold treatI0 h; d) after second Cold
at 740 and final aging at

The microstructure of the steel was investigated after electrolytic etching

The samples were first ground with abrasive paper and then electropolished in an electrolyte consisting of 40% orthophosphoric acid (d = 1.48 g/cm3), 40% sulfuric acid (d = 1.84 g/cmS),
3% chromic anhydride, and 17% water.
The density of the electrolyte was 1o64 g/cm s, the
current density during electropolishing was 45 A/dm 2.
After removal of a layer 0.4 mm thick the samples were subjected to electrolytic etching with reduction of the current density by ~i0 times.
Phase analysis was conducted with the URS-50IM diffractometer with use of F~Fe radiation. The quantity of ~ and 7 phases was determined from the ratio of intensities of lines
(III)T and (110) 4.

455

The extent to which the structure is fragmented during phase transformations was determined qualitatively by the back-reflection method in the KROS camera from line (222)y.
The temperatures at which the direct and reverse martensitic transformations begin and
end (Ms, Mf, As, Af) were determined with an electronic dilatometer of the Dietrich type.
After one cycle of phase strain hardening (without intermediate aging or the second cold
treatment) the properties were as follows:
o b = 108kgf/mm 2, oo.2 = 78kgf/mm =, Oprop =61
kgf/mm 2, ~ = 34%, and ~ = 66%.
The mechanical properties after the complete heat treatment cycle are shown in Fig. I.
It can be seen that the strength characteristics
to the double cold treatment and intermediate aging.

of the alloy increase considerably due

The optimal strength and ductile characteristics are attained with intermediate aging
at 620 and austenitizing at 740 . The highest tensile strength (Ob = 145 kgf/mm 2) is
attained by austenitizing at 700 , and the highest yield strength (oo.2 = Ii0 kgf/mm 2) with
austenitizing at 740 .
The tensile strength and yield strength are lowest for samples austenitized
This can be explained by the mutual effects of two hardening mechanisms -- phase
hardening and aging.
The lower strength properties after austenitizing at 720
the fact that a substantial portion of the phase strain hardening is removed at
perature.
At higher temperatures (740 , for example) the strength rises due to
effect of aging despite the lesser extent of phase strain hardening.

at 720 .
strain
are due to
this temthe larger

The study of the effect of prolonged intermediate aging showed that increasing the
aging time from I0 to 30 h causes no essential changes in the mechanical properties.
It was of interest to study the processes that occur during intermediate aging.
It
was found that the ~ y transformation occurs to a considerable extent.
The quantity of
untransformed martensite does not exceed 3%, judging from the x-ray data. The ~ y transformation is completed at 750 .
Intermediate aging also leads to destabilization of austenite, which is indicated by
the increase of Ms and Mf determined by dilatometric analysis.
For example, after normalization and aging at 640 M s and Mf are equal to --75 and --140 , respectively, and --60 and
--ii0 after intermediate aging.
Destabilization of austenite is also indicated by examination of the microstructure
(Fig. 2). After intermediate aging and the second cold treatment a larger quantity of martensite is formed than after the first cold treatment.
This is also confirmed by quantitative x-ray analysis -- the amount of a phase in the steel is 36% after the first cold treatment and 48% after the second.
X-ray analysis of samples by the back-reflection method in the KROS camera showed that
considerable fragmentation of the blocks occurs during phase strain hardening.
This is indicated by the azimuthal blurring of reflections on the x-ray patterns.
Thus, heating to a temperature ~125 below Af induces the ~ y transformation (according to the x-ray data, at least 97% of y phase is formed).
Heating to this temperature increases the martensite change points and thus the quantity of ~ phase formed during the
second cold treatment, which increases the amount of austenite undergoing phase strain hardening and thus the overall strengthening effect.
CONCLUSIONS
i. After the complete heat-treatment cycle the strength characteristics of low-carbon
steel N26T increase substantially (~15-20%) after cold treatment due to two additional
operations -- intermediate aging at a temperature below Af and a second cold treatment.
2. The mechanical properties of the steel vary with the intermediate-aging
and improve as the temperature is raised from 500 to 625 .

temperature

3. Intermediate aging at temperatures below Af induces destabilization of austenite

and increases (~12%) the amount of ~ phase formed during the subsequent cold treatment.
4. The low strength characteristics after austenitizing at 720 are evidently due to
the mutual effects of the two strengthening mechanisms -- phase strain hardening and aging.

456

The first mechanism is predominant at temperatures below 700 , and the second at higher
temperatures.
LITERATURE CITED
1.

2.

V. G. Gorbach, "Phase strain hardening during the y ~ * y transformations," in:

Metal Physics [in Russian], No. 27, Naukova Dumka, Kiev (1970), p. 3.
G. Krauss, Trans. Met. Soc. AIME, 224, No. 6, 1212 (1962).

STRUCTURE OF SECONDARY CAST ALUMINUM ALLOYS

OBTAINED BY GRANULATION
UDC 669.71.017:621.762

P. A. Parkhutik, M. Z. Lubenskii,
V. G. Badaev, and L. P. Seleznev

Production of semifinished products by pressing sections and rolled bands of alloys obtained by granulation is a promising method of using secondary aluminum alloys as structural
materials [i]. The structural characteristics of the granules make it possible to obtain
high mechanical properties of semifinished products (especially the ductility) that are impossible to obtain by any other method of production [2]. The structure of granules in
various alloys has not been adequately studied.
This work concerns the structure of granules of secondary aluminum alloys AK5M2 and
AK4M4 (GOST 1585-73), the chemical composition of which is given in Table i.
The granules were produced by splat cooling in water by the centrifugal method with
the melt at a temperature of 820-850C. According to calculations [3], the cooling rate
was i03-I0 ~ deg/sec, depending on the granule size (1-5 mm). In this method of casting,
the granules have the shape of tadpoles, the thicker part characterizing the fraction. The
structure of ingots i00 mm in diameter cast in chill molds was examined for comparison.
Figure 1 shows the microstructure of the ingot and granules of various fractions of
alloy AK4M4. On a background of a solid solution there are large particles of eutectic
silicon, darker particles of CuAI~, and large primary formations of AISiFeMn phase in the
form of "Chinese characters" in the ingot (Fig. la). In separate places there are also
acicular inclusions of AI3Fe.
With high cooling rates the size of dendritic cells in the granules decreases greatly.
The interlayers between dendrites create a thin continuous network of secondary phases impossible to differentiate. The initial crystallization of AISiFeMn phase is suppressed and
the heterogeneous structure becomes single-phase. With increasing size of the granules the
size of dendritic cells increases negligibly and the veins of eutectic phase remain practically unchanged (Fig. ib, c).
AK5M2

The phase composition and structure of the ingots and granules of alloys AK4M4 and
differ very little.

Quantitative analysis of the structure of the ingots and granules was conducted with the
Quantimet 720. We analyzed 40-50 fields of the microsection in automatic mode (Table 2).
TABLE I
Composition, %
A11oy
AK5M2
AK4M4

8!

Gu

Mg

Mn

Fe

Zn

4,8
4,4

2,2
3,5

0,56]0,23 0,95 ] 0,1

0,I 0,33 1,15 0,0

Physicotechnical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Belorussian SSR. State Scientific-Research and Design Institute of Alloys and Treatment of Nonferrous Metals. Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 6, pp. 61-62, June, 1980.

0026-0673/80/0506-0457507.50

1981 Plenum Publishing Corporation

457