(1)TMCP ?

Thermo-Mechanical Controlled Processing:

(2) Ultra refinement in ferrite grain size by

ultimate utilization of TMCP
 TMCP is a microstructural control

WHAT IS TMCP? technique combining

rolling and cooling.
controlled

In the past, the purpose of hot rolling was only to

achieve the nominal dimensions like thickness, width
and length.

when the quality requirement was severe, the off-line

heat treatment such as normalizing or Quench and
Tempering had been added.

But when the quality requirement became severer, the

new process for plate rolling had to be developed.
That is TMCP.
• For the TMCP process, the total control during reheating of

slab, plate rolling and cooling after plate rolling is important.

• This technology was developed early in 1980’s and it was

introduced to most of Japanese Plate mills and TMCP steels

have been widely applied to Japanese shipyards.

• According to the exact definition of TMCP,

• TMCP includes TMR (Thermo-Mechanical Rolling) and AcC

(Accelerated Cooling).
 TMCP
Thermo Mechanical Controlled Processing

Controlled Rolling (CR) Accelerated Cooling (AcC)

TMCP
TMCP
 AIM of TMCP

The aim of TMCP is to get the fine and uniform microstructure

with fine grains instead of Ferrite/Pearlite banded structure of
conventional steels.
As a result, TMCP steels have higher strength and better
toughness. Fig.3 shows the relationship between tensile strength
and Ceq (Carbon Equivalent). At the same Ceq level, strength of
TMCP steels is higher than those of conventional steels. As shown
in Fig.4, toughness is improved with decrease of the grain size.
Therefore, TMCP steels have the better toughness.
Concept of microstructure change during TMCP
 Microstructure of TMCP steel

20μm 5μm

Conventional rolling TMCP

 Introduction to Line Pipe Steel

• Line pipe steels are strongly required for pressurized fluid transportation
over long distance.
• The innovative pipeline steel API X80, API X100 and API X120 newly
developed are considering for the new generation of line pipe steels.
• The technical requirements of these steels are the finest combination of
various properties; it includes
i. high strength,
ii. low temperature better toughness,
iii. yield ratio,
iv. high weldability,
v. superior H2S corrosion resistance,
vi. resistance to Hydrogen Induced Cracking (HIC) and
vii.better fatigue behavior etc.
 Introduction to Line Pipe Steel…Cont

• The prime difficulty in adjusting these properties arises

from the fact that, they are inversely linked each other;
for example,
• An increase in strength is achieved at the expenses of
the low temperature toughness and yield ratio and
vice versa.
• Therefore, development of high performance line pipe
steels can be produced by careful control of
“microstructure design”. In turn, the microstructures
are controlled by designing the “fine-tuning of
chemical composition” and “processing route”.
 Introduction to Line Pipe Steel…Cont

• It is a valid way to achieve excellent mechanical properties of line

pipe steel by improving microstructure and refining grain size by
subjecting to different rolling conditions.
• The Metallurgical Phenomena occur through TMCP provides
different phases such as
i. Polygonal Ferrite (PF),
ii. Banitic or Acicular Ferrite (BF or AF),
iii. Martensite-Austenite Constituent (MA),
iv. Quasi Polygonal Ferrite (QF) or Massive Ferrite (MF), and
v. Granular Banitic ferrite (BF).
However, there are still disagreements and uncertainties on the
metallographical identification and classification of the phases, for
example some time the AF is also considered as banite
Example-1 : API X70 and X80 Grade
 Resultant Microstructure

The A steel rolled in the single phase region consists of acicular ferrite
(AF) and granular bainite (GB), with the presence of a small amount of
martensite–austenite constituent (MA) .

The B steel rolled in the two phase region is mainly composed of

polygonal ferrite (PF) transformed during finish rolling, with the presence of
AF and upper bainite (UB) and a small amount of MA and cementite.

The C steel, X80 steel rolled in the single phase region, consists of AF and
UB, with a small amount of MA. Table 3 summarizes the basic
microstructures of the three steels and the volume fraction of secondary
phases, such as MA and cementite.
• EBSD = Electron Backscattered Diffraction
Example-2

Thermo-mechanical control processing (TMCP) refers to a

multi-stage deformation schedule, both above and below the
non-recrystallization temperature (Tnr), followed by accelerated
cooling.
Repeated recrystallization above the Tnr produces fine
austenite grains which are subsequently rolled below the Tnr to
obtain pancake shaped austenite grains which can then
transform into very fine ferrite or bainite following the fast
cooling.
The steel used in this study was laboratory made by hot rolling
of a 5 in. thick ingot. The alloy contained 0.056%C, 1.97%Mn,
and 0.41%Mo, microalloyed with Nb + Ti + V (less than 0.13%).
Four thermomechanical cycles were designed as shown in Fig.
1.
Above mentioned TMCP Cycle:
Four thermo-mechanical cycles are shown in Fig. 1.

The slab was reheated at 1180 ◦C for 2.5 h and then rolled in two stages;
rough rolling and finish rolling followed by accelerated cooling and then
slow cooling to simulate the coiling process.

An overall grain refinement was expected by rolling above Tnr temperature

(Tnr temperature 924 ◦C). Rolling was finished in the austenite region
(above Ar3, ∼698 ◦C). The rough rolling was started at about 1125 ◦C and
finished ∼1010 ◦C. Finish rolling was performed at various temperatures
(between about 875 and 700 ◦C) in several passes. The rolled steels were
then cooled to about 450 ◦C at 30 ◦C/s (Ar1 = 368 ◦C). The rolled materials
were finally furnace cooled and had a thickness of 14 mm.
Application of TMCP steels
Historical progress of TMCP
C.Ouchi:ISIJ Int., 41,(2001),542.
Concluding Remark

Though metallurgical phenomena such as recovery,

recrystallization, precipitation, and transformation are

individually simple, as described in the textbooks, the

infinite combinations of these phenomena and

processing parameters are believed to further improve

the various properties of advance steel plates.

End of TMCP
 What would be happened
by ultra refinement in grain size?

20μm 5μm 1μm

Conventional
TMCP UFG
rolling
 Advantages and technical problems
involved in ultrafine grain steels
Advantage
Increase of yield strength
Improvement of toughness
Increase of fatigue strength
Improvement of corrosion resistance
property
Improvement of grain boundary failure
resistance property
Technical problem
Increase of yield ratio
Decrease of uniform elongation
Properties of weld and HAZ
High temperature properties
Creation of ultrafine grain in heavy
section products
C.Ouchi:CAMP-ISIJ vol ,(1998), .
International projects involved in
ultrafine grain steels

・ Japan
1) Ferrous Super Metal Project
2) STX 21
・ China
・ Korea HIPERS 21

Univ. of Manchester (U.K.)

Univ. of Deakin and BHP (Australia)
 Ferrous Super Metal Project

(1) Objective:
Ultra refinement of grain size under 1μm,
in carbon/low alloy steel
(2) Key technology:
Large-strain deformation higher than 50% per pass
(3) Fund:
＄ 15M for 1997 - 2001 from Japanese
government
(4) Participants:
Nippon Steel, NKK, Kawasaki Steel,
Sumitomo Metal Industries, Kobe Steel
 Three types of
large-strain deformation
Conventional TMCP

Ar3
Ar1

Ultimate utilization of TMCP

TypeⅠ TypeⅡ TypeⅢ

Ar3 Ac3
Ac1
Ar3 Ar1
Ar1

Transformation Transformation/ Reverse transfomation

after heavy deformation recrystrallization after heavy deformation
in extremely under cooled after heavy deformation in α region
γ region in (α +γ ) or (α +θ )
region
 Achievement in
the Ferrous Super Metal Project
M.Niikura et al: Jour. of Mat. Proc. Tech,117 (2001), 341.

Some interesting metallurgical phenomena caused by heavy deformation has been found
out
1) Strain assisted low temperature diffusional transformation
2) Spontaneous reverse transformation due to adiabatic deformation heating
End of Lecture