Innovative steels for structural and corrosion resistance applications

Le résumé fourni par la source

The attention towards innovative steels at limited cost increased significantly in the last years. The research focused mainly in the development of new high strength steels where a combination of elevated mechanical properties, good formability and weldability is required and of duplex stainless steels if high corrosion resistance and mechanical properties are demanded. The possibility to design new light components thanks to the higher strength of such steels, the substitution of expensive raw elements and the new specific production processing have permitted to achieve a global costs saving. However a deep knowledge about the critical aspects of these two classes of steels is of fundamental importance to avoid problems in service and eventually catastrophic failures. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of metallurgical features and phase transformations on the properties of duplex stainless steels (DSS), high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels and advanced high strength dual phase (DP) steels. A detailed review on the state of art of the innovative steels considered has been carried out. The experimental work has been organized into two sections dealing with the critical aspects of duplex stainless steels and high strength steels. In the section concerning DSS, an overall study about secondary phase precipitation occurring during heat treatments of different DSS grades was performed. Then a deeper investigation on lower alloyed DSS, the so called Lean DSS, and their behavior was analyzed. In particular a relation between the morphology of intermetallics precipitation and the fracture toughness was found and compared for two Lean DSS. To reduce the costs, strong austenite phase stabilizers such as Ni are substituted with less stabilizing element as Mn, leading to a certain austenite phase (γ) instability which eventually transforms into ferromagnetic lath martensite (α') during plastic deformation. This phase transformation can potentially affect the properties of the material. Therefore the possible γ→α' evolution during cold rolling was evaluated mainly through magnetic and X-ray diffraction techniques. The second section focused on the influence of microstructure on the mechanical properties and weldability of high strength and advanced high strength steels. Fatigue behavior and weldability are of extreme importance in these two types of steels, especially if designed for structural automotive applications. Hence the role of microllaoying elements and thermo-mechanical processing on fatigue properties and fracture was revealed for different micro-alloyied HSLA steels, whereas the influence of braze-welding parameters on microstructural and mechanical properties was highlighted in a DP steel.

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