Abstract This thesis has been made within the European Industrial Doctorate (EID) project called Mathematics and Materials Science for Steel Production and Manufacturing, abbreviated as MIMESIS, which has five partners: EFD Induction in Norway; SSAB, Outokumpu, and the University of Oulu in Finland; and Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS) in Germany. The main aim of this work was to develop a steel composition and processing route suitable for making a slurry transportation pipeline with the aid of induction hardening, and to characterize the phase transformations and microstructures involved in the various stages of the processing route. A novel steel chemistry was designed based on metallurgical principles assisted by computational thermodynamics and kinetics. The designed composition is a medium-carbon, low-alloy steel microalloyed with niobium, in wt.% 0.40 C, 0.20 Si, 0.25 Mn, 0.50 Mo, 0.90 Cr, and 0.012 Nb. This was subsequently cast, thermomechanically rolled on a laboratory rolling mill to two bainitic microstructures, and finally subjected to the thermal cycles predicted to be encountered with the internal induction hardening of a typical pipe geometry. The phase transformations and microstructures found at various stages of the simulated production process have been characterized and algorithms developed to enable the optimization of microstructure and hardness through the pipe wall thickness. / Tiivistelmä Tämä väitöskirja on tehty osana Euroopan teollisuustohtori (European Industrial Doctorate, EID) -ohjelmaa projektissa eli Matematiikka ja materiaalitiede teräksen valmistuksessa ja käytössä (Mathematics and Materials Science for Steel Production and Manufacturing, MIMESIS). Ohjelmassa on viisi partneria: EFD Induction Norjasta; SSAB, Outokumpu ja Oulun yliopisto Suomesta; ja Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS) Saksasta. Työn päätavoitteina oli kehittää teräksen koostumusta ja prosessointireittiä, jotka soveltuvat lietteen kuljetusputken valmistukseen induktiokarkaisun avulla, sekä karakterisoida prosessin eri vaiheiden aikana tapahtuvat faasimuutokset ja mikrorakenteet. Uusi teräskoostumus suunniteltiin metallurgisten periaatteiden pohjalta hyödyntämällä laskennallista termodynamiikkaa ja kinetiikkaa. Suunniteltu teräs on niobilla mikroseostettu, matalaseosteinen ja keskihiilinen, eli painoprosentteina 0,40 C, 0,20 Si, 0,25 Mn, 0,50 Mo, 0,90 Cr ja 0,012 Nb. Teräs valettiin, valssattiin ja jäähdytettiin termomekaanisesti laboratoriovalssaimella kahdeksi bainiittiseksi mikrorakenteeksi ja lopulta altistettiin lämpösykleille, joiden ennustettiin olevan tyypillisiä sisäisesti induktiokarkaistulle teräsputkelle. Simuloidun tuotantoprosessin eri vaiheissa havaitut faasimuutokset ja mikrorakenteet on karakterisoitu. Sen lisäksi on kehitetty algoritmit, jotka mahdollistavat mikrorakenteen ja kovuuden optimoinnin putken seinämän paksuuden läpi.

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X-ray diffraction (XRD) profile fitting (Rietveld method) was used in this study to characterize the microstructure for seven microalloyed steels, which were produced through thermomechanical controlled processing (TMCP). Microstructure characterization was conducted through the strip thickness. The microstructural variables studied include subgrain size, dislocation density, texture index and weight percent of retained austenite. The subgrain size was also analyzed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effects of processing parameters, including coiling temperature, cooling rate and alloying elements, on the microstructure were also investigated. It was found that decreasing the coiling temperature resulted in a finer subgrain size and higher dislocation densities. The texture index was observed to increase with decreasing coiling temperature. The subgrain size decreased and dislocation density increased as the amount of alloying elements (Ni, Mo and Mn) were increased. The amount of retained austenite increased at the strip center with increasing coiling temperature and increasing C and Ni content. / Materials Engineering

Abstract This research work focuses on how to improve the toughness of heat affected zones (HAZs) of low heat input welds in the case of high strength thermomechanically processed (TMCP) and recrystallization controlled rolled and accelerated cooled (RCR) plates with yield strengths of 355–500 MPa. Experimental work was aimed at the investigation of the intragranular nucleation of acicular ferrite or bainite in hot-rolled plates and the evaluation of the Charpy V and CTOD toughness of the most critical sub-zones of the weld HAZ using simulated specimens with a cooling time t8/5 = 5 s. The zones studied were the coarse grained HAZ (CGHAZ), the intercritically reheated coarse-grained HAZ (ICCGHAZ) and the intercritical HAZ (ICHAZ), the metallographical analyses consisted of microstructural investigations complemented with hardness measurements. Optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy techniques were employed together with image and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis. The test results showed that the toughness of the various sub-zones of the HAZ is improved by promoting intragranularly nucleated ferritic-bainitic (acicular) microstructure in both the CGHAZ and in the base plate. In this way, the sub-zones subjected to intercritical thermal cycles (the ICCGHAZ and the ICHAZ) develop evenly distributed M-A constituents between ferrite and bainite laths. These favourable microstructures can be achieved by using titanium killing or by avoiding niobium microalloying by using copper plus nickel alloying instead. In the laboratory experiments titanium killed steel, containing titanium-manganese oxide/manganese sulphide inclusions with a number density of 300–750 particles/mm2, develops a largely acicular ferritic microstructure in the base plate provided the austenite grain size is greater than about 120 μm and the cooling rate is in the range 6–11 °C/s down to 500 °C. Under plate mill conditions, no significant amount of acicular ferrite could be obtained, because it was not possible to achieve austenite grain sizes larger than about 70 μm after rolling. However, a significant fraction of acicular ferritic-bainitic microstructure was achieved in the CGHAZ, when the austenite grain size exceeded 90 μm. When achieved, a uniform distribution of M-A particles in an acicular ferritic-bainitic microstructure improves toughness. Cracks nucleate at numerous sites on M-A/ferrite boundaries or bainite packet interfaces, but they are initially arrested in the acicular matrix. Crack growth finally occurs by linking of the numerous arrested microcracks.