On the Hardenability of an Intercritically Heat Treated Microalloyed Steel

Abstract

Dual phase steel has become an important engineering material to be used in structural and automotive applications due to its good combination of strength, ductility, and formability. In this study, hardenability of a low carbon and microalloyed steel was investigated by using the standard Jominy End Quench Test at four different quenching temperatures. Three steel specimens were quenched from the intercritical region at 737 degrees C, 754 degrees C, and 779 degrees C separately, whereas one of them was tested at 900 degrees C, in the fully austenitic region. After finishing the Jominy test, metallographic examination of the samples was carried out to see the variation in the microstructure through the length of the steel. And also, hardness measurements were made through the length of the samples. Results brought out that there was a strong decrease in the hardness of the tested samples after a depth of 5mm from the quenched end.