Effect of Austenitizing Temperature on Mechanical Properties of the Mixed Bainite - Martensite Microstructure in CrMoV Steel

The result showed that at low austenitizing temperature (910°C - 1000°C), the mixed microstructures containing 12-28% volume fraction of lower bainite showed higher yield and tensile strength than fully martensitic microstructure. The partitioning of the prior austenite grain by lower bainite was found to cause a refinement of the martensite packet size.

In addition the strength of the lower bainite in the mixed microstructure is enhanced by plastic constraint induced by the surrounding stronger martensite. By increasing the austenitizing temperature from 1000°C to 1200°C (40min), the YS, UTS, %EL, %RA and CVN impact energy decreased for all samples. This is attributed mainly to the increase in austenite grain size and width of bainite sheaves.