Austenitizing temperature and hardenability of low-carbon boron steels

Abstract

The hardenability of boron steels was discussed in terms of precipitation behavior and phase stability of M(23)(C,B)(6) borocarbide in accordance with austenitizing temperature. A higher austenitizing temperature reduced the hardenability of Mo-added boron steel by the preferred precipitation of borocarbide because it caused a significant increase in boron concentration segregated to the austenite grain boundary due to grain coarsening and a non-equilibrium segregation mechanism. (C) 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.