Comparative tensile flow and work hardening behaviour of thin section and forged thick section 9Cr–1Mo ferritic steel in the framework of Voce equation and Kocks–Mecking approach

Detailed analysis indicated that true stress (σ)-true plastic strain (ε) and work hardening behaviour of 9Cr–1Mo steel in two different forms, i.e. 20 mm plate and thick section tubeplate forging can be adequately described by Voce equation and Kocks–Mecking approach in the temperature range 300–873 K. The steel exhibited two-stage work hardening in the variations of instantaneous work hardening rate (θ = dσ/dε) and θσ with stress. The variations in σ–ε, work hardening parameters, θ–σ and θσ–σ with temperature exhibited three distinct temperature regimes. Good correlations between the predicted tensile properties using Voce equation and the respective experimental values along with analogy between Voce equation and Kocks–Mecking approach have been demonstrated for the steel. The differences in σ–ε, work hardening parameters, θ–σ and θσ–σ observed between plate and tubeplate forging have been ascribed to the effects associated with initial microstructures for the two product forms of the steel.