Evolution of Microstructure and Precipitation State During Thermomechanical Processing of a Low Carbon Microalloyed Steel

The increasing demand of sources of energy such as oil and natural gas induces at the steel industry a development on low carbon microalloyed steels for pipeline applications in order to achieve excellent mechanical properties of strength and toughness at a reduced cost. To obtain an adequate fine-grained final structure, the strict control of thermomechanical processing and accelerated cooling is crucial. Depending on the thermomechanical processing conditions and chemical composition, pipeline steels can present different microstructures. Several authors have found that the microstructure of acicular ferrite usually provides an optimum combination of mechanical properties. Higher levels of austenite strengthening before cooling promote a refinement of final microstructure but can also restrict the fraction of low temperature transformation products such as acicular ferrite.