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UDC 621.762:669.152428-194
CONCENTRATION-INHOMOGENEOUS NICKEL-MOLYBDENUM
TRIP-STEELS
A. A. Shatsov1 and I. V. Ryaposov1
Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 11, pp. 47 50, November, 2010.
The structure and properties of powder steels with 2 4% Ni and 0.5% Mo widely used for making machine
parts and equipment are studied. Heat treated articles from these steels have high operating properties under
complex loading conditions, i.e., under friction (including the case of presence of abrasive particles) and under
impact and alternating loads.
Key words: structure, metastable austenite, martensite, deformation, phase transformation, TRIPsteel, mechanical properties.
INTRODUCTION
A metastable structure can be obtained at operating temperatures in steels with high content of austenite at nickel
concentration of about 2% in the case of the use of dispersed
powders, for example, mechanically alloyed ones [1]. In alloys based on technical iron powders the concentration of
nickel should be less than 4% [2].
The possibility of obtaining low-alloy nickel-molybdenum powder steels with a low fraction of metastable austenite was first patented in [3] and then reported by S. Takajo
[4]. The mechanical properties of the steels have been raised
by increasing the proportion of the metastable component by
means of thermochemical treatment, additional compaction,
and use of partially alloyed powders [5 7]. Other methods
for fabricating powder metastable austenitic steels are connected with implementing a specified distribution of alloying
elements [8], for example, by sintering in the presence of a
liquid phase [9]. The interest in low-alloy trip-steels is explainable by their high structural strength at a relatively low
content of alloying additives. Nickel-molybdenum powder
steels are used for the production of highly loaded parts, such
as hammers, anvils, and links. Other applications of such
steels are steel copper pseudoalloys and composite materials based on them [12, 13]. Articles from powder metastable austenitic steels can compete with parts from cast iron
with metastable austenite and parts produced with the use of
ausforming (gears, links, etc.).
The aim of the present work was to study the structure
and properties of low-alloy metastable austenitic steel
1
METHODS OF STUDY
The structure of steel PK70N4M was studied by metallographic, microdurometric, microscopic x-ray spectrum, and
x-ray diffraction analyses. The strength and the ductility was
determined according to GOST 1822785, the crack resistance was determined according to GOST 25.50685 on specimens of type IV with preliminarily deposited crack, and the
impact toughness was determined for specimens with cross
section of 6 6 mm (at 40-mm distance between the rests).
The initial material was iron powder of grade
PZhR3.200.28. The alloying additives were PNK-OT4 nickel
carbonyl powder, molybdenum powder prepared by TU
49-19-10.573, and colloidal graphite preparation of grade
S-1. In order to improve the compressibility, the blend was
enriched with 0.8 wt.% zinc stearate.
The blend was mixed for 8 h in a mixer with shifted rotation axis. The first pressing was performed at 600 MPa. The
preforms were annealed for 2 h at 850C in an atmosphere of
dissociated ammonia and then pressed again at 800 MPa.
The final sintering was performed in a walking beam furnace
at 1160C for 4 h in an atmosphere of dissociated ammonia.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
After the fist pressing the specimens had a porosity of
6.60 g/cm3 (Po = 15%); after preliminary sintering and additional compaction their porosity was 7.15 g/cm3 (Po = 9%).
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50 mm
559
After sintering, the structure of the specimens is primarily represented by sorbite and troostite (Fig. 1a ). Austenite
spots with inclusions of martensite are noticeable near
pores. The porosity after the sintering is about 9%; the specific surface of the pores is 0.030 mm 1, the distance between the pores is 125 mm, the pore diameter is 12 mm. The
content of carbon in the sintered specimens is 0.80 0.65%.
Under the conditions mentioned the density and the porosity change inconsiderably in the sintering process. The
mechanical properties of the steel obtained are presented in
Table 1.
Homogenization in the sintering stage is determined by
the chemical and granulometric compositions and by the
structure of the powders. In order to give an exhaustive statistical description of the distribution of an alloying element
we should know the distribution law and the coefficient V of
variation of the concentration. As a rule, the law of distribution of elements in a steel is asymptotically lognormal [9]. In
our work we checked the distribution law in terms of the
TABLE 1. Mechanical Properties of Steel PK70N4M after Sintering and after Heat Treatment
Treatment
Sintering
Hardening + tempering
Hardness
sr , MPa
d, %
88 HRB
50 HRC
590
950
2.0
0.5
200
120
35
38
r, g/cm3
Po, %
7.15
7.15
9.0
9.0
560
49
2q, deg
49
55
2q, deg
55
The contribution of the austenite-to-martensite transformation on the fracture surface into the growth in the crack resistance KIc can be evaluated analytically from the equation [8]:
KIc =
( K Ic ) 2 +
Wtr f Eh
1- n 2
concentration of impurity atoms in steels based on the powder of grade PZhR 3.200.28 results in localization of stresses,
which decreases, in its turn, the length of the strained region
and decelerates the motion of dislocations. This seems to be
one of the causes of lower mechanical properties as compared to bidisperse power trip-steels [8, 15]. Another cause is
the worse concentration homogeneity. It manifests itself in
the fact that the strain-induced g a transformation requires higher deformation (due to the presence of regions
with elevated concentration of alloying element), and therefore the thickness of the zone with phase transformation decreases as compared to steels with high content of additives
of carbonyl powders.
CONCLUSIONS
1. An approach is suggested for fabricating parts from
powder low-alloy metastable austenitic steels.
2. Elevation of mechanical properties of concentrationinhomogeneous trip-steels as compared to commercial powder steels is a result of phase transformations on the fracture
surface upon loading.
3. The mechanical properties of concentration-inhomogeneous metastable austenitic steels based on domestic powder iron are not inferior to those of traditional low-alloy
steels, which makes these steels suitable for the production
of loaded parts.
REFERENCES
1. V. N. Antsiferov, S. N. Bobrova, and A. A. Shatsov, Structure
and properties of mechanically alloyed steels PK50N2M,
Poroshk. Metall., No. 3/4, 31 35 (1998).
2. A. A. Shatsov and M. G. Latypov, The role of nickel and carbon in concentration-inhomogeneous trip-steels, Metalloved.
Term. Obrab. Met., No. 6, 34 36 (2001).
3. Jr. Jandeska and F. William, Iron Powder Article Having Improved Toughness, US Pat. No. 4618473, Publ. 1989.
4. S. Takajo, Obtaining high strength steel powder, MRP, No. 7/8,
33 (1991).
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