Effects of Cu and B addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of high-strength bainitic steels

Effects of Cu and B addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of high-strength bainitic steels were investigated in this study. Six kinds of steels were fabricated by controlling the amount of Cu and B addition, and their microstructures and tensile and Charpy impact properties were investigated. Their effective grain sizes were also characterized by the electron back-scatter diffraction analysis. The tensile test results indicated that the B- or Cu-containing steels had the higher yield and tensile strengths than the B- or Cu-free steels because their volume fractions of acicular ferrite and martensite were quite high. The B- or Cu-free steels had the higher upper shelf energy than the B- or Cu-containing steels because of their lower volume fraction of martensite. In the steel containing 10 ppm B without Cu, the best combination of high strengths, high upper shelf energy, and low energy transition temperature could be obtained by the decrease in effective grain size due to the presence of acicular ferrite having fine effective grain size.