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JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH, INTERNATIONAL. 2010. 17(5): 38-43

A Mn-Series of Oil-Quenched Super-Strength Bainitic

Steel With High Hardenability
ZHANG Han. BAI Bing-zhe , FANG Hong-sheng
(Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
Tsinghua University, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract: A new Mn-series of oil-quenched super-strength bainitic steel was developed on the basis of the alloy sys-
tem of the original Mn-series air cooled bainitic steel. The mechanical properties of the new steel are well combined
while precious alloy elements and complicated technologies are not needed for its production. Experimental results
show that bainite/martensite (13/M) dual phase microstructure can be obtained within a very wide cooling rate range
and bainite microstructure exists even when the cooling rate reaches as fast as 60 C / s , the hardenability of the steel
is better than that of 40CrNiMo and 42CrMo; the diameter of the round bar made of the steel is 250 mrn , and the
round bar tempered at 350 'C after oil quenching exhibits its central mechanical properties as follows: R m = I 550
MPa, R p ,l.2 = 1270 MPa, A=15%, aku =95 J/cm 2 (at room temperature).
Key words: bainite; oil quenching; hardenability; mechanical property; martensite

In 1970s , FANG Hong-sheng et al found the
phenomenon that a "bay" shape appeared around 600
·C on the r-a transformation curve of steels due to
the dragging and dragging-like effect of solute atoms
caused by the enrichment of Mn at the phase inter-
face of air and then developed Mn-series air cooled
bainitic steels[l-3], which broke through the tradi-
tional idea that precious alloy elements like Mo or W
must be added to get air cooled bainite microstruc-
ture. The Mn-series bainitic steels obtained without
the addition of precious alloy elements show high air
cooling hardenability and good combination of
strength and ductility, which have been used exten-
sively in many fields[4-7]. As for Mn-series bainitic
steels. former studies were mainly related to the
composition, microstructure, technology and per-
formance of the air cooling state while the fast cool-
ing state was seldom involved. Recent studies show
that bainite microstructure can also be obtained in
Mn-series bainitic steels during very fast cooling
processes such as oil or water quenching. Based on
the Mn-series air cooled bainitic steels, an Mn-series
of oil cooled super-strength bainitic steel with high
hardenability is developed through the alloy design.
In this study, the microstructure and performance of
the new oil cooled bainitic steel designated as the ex-
perimental steel will be presented and analyzed so
that the Mn-series bainitic steels can be more widely
used and developed in the future.
1 Composition Design and Experimental
Methods for the Experimental Steel
The experimental steel with high hardenability
should be provided with the continuous cooling
transformation (CCT) curve shown in Fig. 1 where
BIM dual phase can be obtained within a wide range
of the cooling rate. Ref. [Z] shows that an obvious
"bay" shape appears on the r - a transformation
curve of steels when a certain amount of Mn is add-
ed. So similar to Mn-series air cooled bainitic steels,
the experimental steel also contains some Mn to en-
sure that bainite microstructure exists after oil cool-
ing. A certain amount of Si added can function to-
gether with Mn to enhance the enrichment of Mn at
the interface of air and then improve the ability of
the experimental steel to obtain bainite microstructure;

Foundation Item: Item Sponsored by National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2004CB619105)
Biography: ZHANG Hant 1984-). Male. Doctor Candidate; E-mail: zhanghan06@mails. t singhua, edu, en; Received Date: March 30. 2009
Issue 5 A Mn-Series of Oil-Quenched Super-Strength Bainitic Steel With High Hardenability
i 1
i
Eo-
Fast cooling
Time
Fig. 1 The sketch for the ccr curve of the experimental steel
at the same time, the precipitation of the cementite
during the cooling and low temperature tempering
processes is suppressed and carbide free bainite
(CFB) is obtained. Some Cr added can make the
CCT curve move to the right side and lower B,
(added Cr of 1%, then B s lowered by 70 ·C[8]). Fi-
nally, the new Mn-series of oil-cooled super-strength
bainitic steel is designed as O. 25C-Mn-Si-Cr.
The experimental steel is forged to the square
billet of 60 mmX 60 mm after smelting in the medium
frequency induction heating furnace. The CCT curve
of the experimental steel is measured by the Formas-
ter-D dilatometer using samples of ~3 mm X 10 mm
cut from the square billet. Samples in small size are
austenized at 900 'C and then oil cooled before tested
for mechanical properties while the oil cooling proces-
ses of round bars in large diameter like .p90 mm and
~250 mm are simulated using the air cooling of round
bars of .p13 mm and ~40 mm respectively (the central
cooling rates calculated through the finite element
thermal analysis correspond with each other). SSX-
550 SEM and ]EM-2011 TEM are used to observe
the microstructure and analyze the phases.
281M Microstructure of Experimental Steel
Fig. 2 shows the CCT curve of the experimental
steel during the cooling rate range of O. 38- 60 'C I s, It
can be seen from Fig. 2 that the transformations of
ferrite and pearlite are both significantly put off
within this range of cooling rate while the delay of
the bainite transformation is not obvious; the start
temperature of bainite transformation falls within
300- 370 'C which is comparatively low within the
whole cooling rate range of O. 38- 60 'C Is; M s is
• 39 •
1000
BOO
P
600
!
400
200 0.38
47
10000
Fig. 2 Actual ccr curve of experimental steel
around 280 'C. So the design aim of the expected
CCT curve in Fig. 1 is realized. The SEM microstruc-
tures of the experimental steel at different cooling rates
are shown in Fig. 3 (a) and (b) from which it is
proved that B/M dual phase can be obtained within
the whole cooling rate range (even at the cooling
rate of 60 c/». The TEM photos of Fig. 3 (c) and
(d) show that the thin films of retained austenite
(RA) distribute between bainitic ferrite plates as
well as the subunits thereof and the RA thin films
between the subunits are in 55°- 60° angle with the
longitudinal axis of the bainitic ferrite plate which
has the typical characteristic of the lower bainite without
the precipitation of carbide (CFB)[9]. Fig. 3 (e) shows
the diffraction spots of RA (fcc structure) and bai-
nitic ferrite as well as martensite Cbcc structure)
from which it can be seen that the high-density plane
{110 h of bainitic ferrite is not strictly parallel to the
high-density plane {111}/ of RA with 13° angle ex-
isting there. This phenomenon is different from
{110 h II {11l}/ in the lower bainite transformation of
Fe-C-Si alloy studied by Sandvik[IO-ll].
From the CCT curve in Fig. 2, it can also be seen
that B, under fast cooling rates is quite low, which is al-
most equal to Ms ' and changes slowly with the cooling
rate. So the bainite microstructure transforming dur-
ing a very wide cooling range is fine (the length of
the plate is about 5-10 /-Lm, the width isubout
500 nrn) and the mechanical properties are improved.
3 High Hardenability of Experimental Steel
The hardenability curve of the experimental
steel is measured using the "end quenching method"
as shown in Fig. 4 (a), compared with those of the
typical structural alloy steels 40CrNiMo and 42CrMo
shown in Fig. 4 (b) and (c). It is obvious that the bar-
 • 10 • Journal of Iron and Steel Research. International Vol. 17

(a) Microstructure at the cooling rate of 60 'C Is; (b) Microstructure at the cooling rate of o. 38 'C Is; (c) TEM bright field image
at the cooling rate of 60C I SO (d) TEM dark field image of RA at the cooling rate of 60C I SO (e) Diffraction spots of bee and Icc,
Fig. 3 Micrographs of experimental steel

(a) (b)
55 60

45 50
""'
U
I:t::
e; 35 40
'"'"0- 65 (c) 55 (d)
~
:I:
55 45

45 :~5
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
Distance from water cooling end/mm

(a) CO. 25MnSiCr (experimental steel i . (b) 40CrNiMo; (c) 42CrMo; (d) CO. 22MnSi.
Fig. 4 Hardenability curves of different steels

denability of the experimental steel is much better than Table 1 Chemical composition of experimental steel %
those of 40CrNiMo and 42CrMo whose compositions C Cr Ni Mo Mn Si
in mass percent are listed in Table 1[12 J • What's 40CrNiMo 0.45 0.55 0.65 O. 15 1. 25 O. 35
more. no precious alloy elements are added in the 42CrMo 0.45 1. 15 0.25 1. 05 0.35
experimental steel which means the cost of the ex-
perimental steel is lower. Fig. 4 (d) shows that the 4 Mechanical Properties of Experimental Steel
hardenability of O. 22C-Mn-Si is not as good as that
of the experimental steel. So it can be concluded The central cooling rates of round bars within
that Cr also plays an important role in the hardena- the temperature range of 650 - 350 'C under oil
bility of the Mn-series bainitic steel. Besides, Cr can cooling conditions are calculated through the finite
reduce B" element thermal analysis as listed in Table 2. In order
Issue 5 A Mn-Series of Oil-Quenched Super-Strength Bainitic Steel With High Hardenability • 41 •

Table 2 Central cooling rates of round bars in different
diameters under 011 cooling condition
No.1
Diameter of round bar/mm 13
Cooling rate of bar center/L'C • 5- 1) 60
to discuss the mechanical properties clearly, it
should be pointed out that the microstructure at slo-
wer cooling rate contains a larger amount of CFB.
With the help of Imageproplus software to analyze
several SEM photos, the rough amount of CFB can
be given as approximately 30 % and approximately
15 % in No.3 and No.2, respectively. The amount
of CFB in No.1 is few.
The mechanical properties of the experimental
steel going through tempering after oil cooling are
No.2 No.3 shown in Fig. 5. The tempering time is set as 2 h.
90 250 As seen in Fig. 5 (a), under the conditions of no
2 0.38 tempering or tempering at low temperature, the ten-
sile strength rises with the increase of cooling rate
and reduces with the increase of the tempering tem-
perature, which is quite common. When the tempe-
ring temperature exceeds a certain value, the tensile
strength of the microstructure under slower cooling
rate becomes higher than that under faster cooling
rate. For example, the tensile strength of sample
No.2 and sample No.3 is close or even higher than that
of sample No. 1 after tempering at 400 'C. The reason
can be given as follows: CFB/M microstructure can

1750 (a) 1350 (.~b)I.-_ _~_-"'-?W::::::___

1450 1050

18 (c) 85 (d)

14
~

~ ~
...=
'l:l

I 10 No.1
j
'"

o 100 200 300 400 0 100 200 300 400

Tempering temperatureJ't

Fig. 5 Mechanical properties of experimental steel after tempering

be obtained within the cooling rate range of O. 38-
60 'C/s (larger amount of CFB exists in No.2 and
No.3); on one hand, the tensile strength of mar-
tensite reduces not obviously after tempering at low
temperature but falls greatly after tempering at me-
dium temperature due to the precipitation and aggre-
gation of carbide; on the other hand, the tensile
strength of CFB is lower than that of martensite un-
der the conditions of no tempering and tempering at
low temperature but becomes higher after tempering
at medium temperature probably because of the
transformation of RA[13]; as a result, the micro-
structure with larger amount of CFB obtained at
lower cooling rate is stronger after medium tempera-
ture tempering. Noticeably there exists a platform
within the tempering temperature range from 220 'C
 • 42 • Journal of Iron and Steel Research. International Vol. 17

to 350 'c for No.3 [see Fig. 5 (a)], which suggests
that the RA films transform during tempering within
this temperature range and keep the total tensile
strength of CFB/M microstructure stable.
From Fig. 5 (b), it can be seen that RpD.2 of
No.1 changes little during tempering at temperature
below 300 'C but reduces obviously when the tempe-
ring temperature is higher than 350 'C while R po 2 of
No.2 and No.3 has a significant rising process after
tempering beneath a certain temperature (for No.3,
the certain temperature is about 350 'C). It can be
concluded from this difference that the transforma-
tion of RA films counts a lot for increasing RpD.2. In
addition, the elimination of internal stress during
tempering may also lead to the rise of RpD. 2.
Fig. 5 (c) shows that with the tempering tem-
perature increasing, the elongation of No.1 and
No.3 has a rising tendency. This may be related to
the elimination of internal stress and the reduction of
dislocation density when tempering.
From Fig. 5 (d), compared with the nearly
complete martensite microstructure like No.1, it is
known that the tempering brittleness of CFB/M mi-
crostructure containing more CFB is delayed to the
higher temperature range.
In addition, central cooling rate and hardness of
round bars in different diameters under oil cooling
are given in Table 3, from which it can be seen that
the changing gradient of hardness is very small. So
the engineering articles in large size with uniformly high
strength can be produced under oil cooling condition
using the experimental steel. For example, under
the condition of oil cooling and no tempering, the
round bar of 1>250 mm is provided with more than
1700 MPa (estimated from hardness of M, in Table
3) of surface u; and 1600 MPa [see Fig. 5 (a)] of
central R m • It can be also known from Fig. 5 that the
optimum mechanical properties of different CFB/M
microstructures can be obtained through adjusting
tempering temperature. For example, to obtain rel-
atively good central mechanical properties after oil
cooling (shown in Table 4), tempering at about 280 'C
and 350 'C are better choices for round bars of 1>90 mm
and </>250 mm , respectively.

Table 3 Central cooling rate and hardness of round bars for oil cooling
Diameter of oil quenched round bar/mm
MJC
250 150 80 50 35 25 15
Cooling rate/ ('C • S I) 0.38 0.9 2.3 5 10 15 40 >100
HRC hardness 47 47 48 49 49 49 51 52

Table 4 Central mechanical properties of large round bars after oil cooling and tempering
Diameter/mm Tempering temperaturerC Rm/MPa Rpo.dMPa A/%
250 350 1550 1 270 15 95
90 280 1650 1360 17 90

5 Conclusions
1) The CFB/M dual phase of the experimental
steel can be obtained within a very wide range of
cooling rate. Microscopic analysis shows that even
at the cooling rate of 60 'C / s , CFB exists in the mi-
crostructure. Thin films of RA are distributed be-
tween the plates of CFB as well as the subunits
thereof.
2) The hardenability of the experimental steel
in low cost is even higher than that of 40CrNiMo
and 42CrMo. The optimum mechanical properties of
CFB/ M microstructures at different cooling rates
can be obtained through adjusting the tempering
temperature.
3) Through alloy design, B, of the experimen-
tal steel is greatly reduced so that the microstruc-
ture is obviously fine and the mechanical properties
are improved.
4) For the CFB microstructure of the experi-
mental steel, the high density plane {110} b of bai-
nitic ferrite is not strictly parallel to the high density
plane {Ill) r of RA with 13° angle existing there.
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