Influence of Q&P parameters on the mechanical properties and wear performance of AHSS steels
2021 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Hadfield Mn steel is known for its good wear performance; however, the so-called AHSS steels have demonstrated much better wear performance than Mn steel. Unlike the conventional HSS steels known for their single-phase ferritic microstructure, AHSS steels have a multiphase microstructure generated through carefully selected chemical composition and precisely controlled heating and cooling cycles. AHSS steels include three main generations: the 1st and 2nd generations that involve steels such as Dual-phase (DP), martensitic, and TRIP steels. However, in this project, the 3rd generation of AHSS steels is of interest and, more specifically, Q&P steels obtained via Quenching & Partitioning heat treatment. As they exhibited good wear performance in previous research work, two different cast steel compositions with high carbon content have been selected for Q&P heat treatments. The parameters of the latter, namely partitioning temperature and time have been varied. Afterward, the different obtained Q&P steels have been analyzed in terms of microstructure, hardness, and toughness. Afterward, the optimum Q&P steel has been selected for wear testing to analyze its wear performance and establish a comparison between this Q&P steel and Mn steel. It has been found that the structure of Q&P steel mainly composed of hard martensite exhibited better wear performance than the austenitic Mn steel before and after wear testing. However, Mn steel has demonstrated much better toughness than Q&P steels suggesting that it can resist more crack initiation when subjected to mechanical loads.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021.
Keywords [en]
AHSS steels, Q&P heat treatment, wear performance, retained austenite, toughness, hardness
National Category
Metallurgy and Metallic Materials Other Mechanical Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-86891OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-86891DiVA, id: diva2:1588610
Educational program
Materials Engineering, master's level (120 credits)
Presentation
(English)
Supervisors
Examiners
2021-08-272021-08-272025-02-14Bibliographically approved