Hardening mechanisms of steels with bainite and martensite structures

Martensite and bainite are the most complex structures being formed in steel in heat treatment including the quantitative interpretation. On frequent occasions, the application field of these steels includes the operation at high static and dynamic compression stresses. The thorough and comprehensive analysis of the materials’ structure after different types of treatment enables to use them competently for the manufacturing of the parts and structures providing them with the necessary complex of physical and mechanical properties. The factor determining the mechanical properties of the materials are the structure of solid solution, presence of nano-dimentional particles of the second phases, dislocation substructure, types and location of various boundaries and internal stress fields. For successful control of the formation of structural phase states and mechanical properties of the material it is necessary to know the quantitative laws and the cold hardening mechanisms of steels of different structural classes at active plastic deformation. By methods of transmission electron diffraction microscopy the analysis of cold hardening of 38CrNi3MoV steel with martensite and 30Cr2Ni-2MoV steel with bainite structures at active plastic compression deformation to 26 % and 36 %, respectively, was done in the research. The contributions caused by intraphase boundaries, dislocation substructure, carbide phases, atoms of alloying elements and long-range stress fields are considered. It is established that the substructural hardening (caused by the internal long-range stress fields) and solid solution strengthening (caused by carbon atoms) give largest contribution to cold hardening of 38CrNi3MoV hardened steel. For normalization of 30Cr2Ni2MoV steel hardening also takes place at the expense of the internal stress field’s action, at the penetration of carbon atoms to the ferrite crystal lattice as well as at the structural fragmentation with the deformation degree higher than 26 %. The dislocation substructure and the particles of carbide phase make comparatively small contribution to the hardening of these steels. It is shown that the cause of bainite steel softening at large (more than 15 %) degrees of deformation is connected with the activation of deformation microtwinning process.