=Figure VI-3.

Solubility isotherms of (a) niobium carbide, (b) titanium carbide, and (c)
vanadium nitride in austenite. (L, Meyer F. Heisterkamp, and W. Mueschenborn, in
Microalloying 75, Union Carbide Corp, New York, 1976, p. 153, by permission.)

VI-3. PRECIPITATION STRENGTHENING IN HSLA STEELS

Grain refinement is the preferred mode of strengthening in HSLA steels because
it also improves toughness, but precipitation strengthening is the next most
preferred mechanism. The particles that from at high temperatures in austenite,
although they are effective in controlling grain growth, do not cause
strengthening because they are too large and widely spaced. The strengthening
particle are those that from at low temperatures in austenite, at the -
interface during transformation, and in fernite during cooling. Because of its
higher solubility in austenite, VN tend to precipitate in fernite where it is an
effective strengthener.
For a sparingly soluble precipitate such as NbC, the greatest amount of
precipitate the Nb/C ratio is much less than stoichiometry.
Studies of precipitation in these steels led to the discovery of interphase
precipitation,1 which has since been shown to occur in many systems. At the
phase transformation , there is a discontinuos decrease in solubility of the
carbide or nitride. Precipitate nucleation and growth occurs at the
interface, which normally moves discontinuously. 2 the result is the configuration
shown in fig. VI-4, in which the particles form on the interface planes and in lines
on those planes. Lines mark former position of ledged on the interface.
The spacing of the precipitate planes decreases as cooling rate increases. The
growth of particles occurs by diffusion of Nb in ferrite, which is assumed to be
100 times more rapid in ferrite than in austenite. In the latter, diffusivity is given
by

1
2

J.M. Gray and R.B.G Yeo, trans. Am. Soc. Met., 61:255 (1986).
E. eichen and J.W. Spretnak, trans. Am. Soc. Met., 61:454 (1959)

Figure VI-4. schematic diagram of three dimensional precipitate distribution. (J.M. Gray
and R.B.G. Yeo, Trans. Am. Soc Met., 61:255 (1968), by permission.)

D = 400 exp (- 293 kj/mol )

RT

In fig. VI-5 the Nb atoms are assumed to move from the line XY , midway
between the last row of precipitates to from and the new position of the -
interface. The distances that the Nb atom can travel in ferrite during the normal
rates of air cooling are consistent with the spacing of the precipitate planes. 80
to 400 nm.
Interphase precipitation also has been seen in steel containing V, W, Mo, Ti, and
Cr.1 Davenport and Honeycombe2 have modified the model of gray and yeo to
include a buildup of carbon in the austenite adjacent to the boundary is
depleted, which increases the driving force for transformation to ferrite. These
steps are illustrated in fig. VI-6.
Honeycombe3 has reviewed the direct evidence for the nucleation of alloy
carbide particles at interfaces during transformation of austenite. Such
interfaces within a single austenite grain are seldom curved; rather, they are
composed of planar facets joined by ledges. The orientation relationship between
ferrite and austenite is the kurdjumov-sachs
{111} {110}
{110} {111}
1
2
3

R.W.K Honeycombe and F.B Pickering Met. Trans., 3:1099 (1972)

A.T. Davenport and R.W.K Honeycombe. Proc. Roy. Soc. (London). A322:191 (1971.)
R.W.K Honeycombe Met. Trans. A. 7A:915 (1976)

Which matches the closest packed planes in both lattices. The regularly spaced
sheet of precipitate particles are nucleated at the interface and grow in the
ferrite, as shown in fig. VI-7. The ledges are probably noncoherent and move too
rapidly for nucleation of carbides to occur on them. Nucleation occurs on the
slower moving, low-energy planar facets. The ledge height id often uniform, as
shown in fig. VI-7a, and between 5 and 50 nm, but sometimes it may vary, as
shown in fig. VI-7b. this nucleation process, occurring across an austenite grain,
produces the astonishingly uniform sheets of particles that are frequency
observed.
The particles formed during interphase precipitation, or in ferrite after the phase
transformation, can be very small, on the order of 5 nm, and are therefore very
effective as strengthening agents. Figure VI-8 illustrates the strengthening that
can be attained by additions of Nb or Ti to hot-rooled strip. Niobium is a more
effective strengthener at low concentrations than is Ti. Cold rolling and box
annealing lower the strength of the Nb steel by agglomeration of carbide
perticles. The Ti steel suffers less from this process.
Because of the distinct contribution of precipitation to the strength of many HSLA
steels, it is proper to consider the theory of precipitation strengthening and

Figure VI-5. diffusional model for the interphase precipitation of nobium carbide (J.M.
Gray and R.B.G. Yeo, Trans. Am. Soc Met., 61:255 (1968), by permission.)

Figure VI-6. schematic model of interphase precipitation (according to A.T. Davenport and
R.W.K Honeycombe. Proc. Roy. Soc. (London). A322:191 (1971.), by permission ). (a) the
carbon concentration in austenite increases at the ferrite-austenite boundary. (b) the
carbon concentration promotes carbide nucleation on the ferrite side of boundary,
thereby pinning the boundary and depleting the carbon concentration in the austenite.
The depletion of carbon increases the driving force for the transformation of austenite,
moving the boundary away from the precipitate particles (c) the process begins again.