Abstract
The aim of the present paper is focused on nucleation onset and development morphologies of acicular ferrite and to evaluate microstructure and mechanical properties during isothermal austenite transformation in titanium free micro-alloyed steel. Isothermal treatment was carried out in the temperature range 350 to 450 C. These treatments were interrupted at different times between 2 and 1800 s in order to analyze the evolution of the microstructure. Yield stress was determined by compression testing on samples with final Microstructure. The metallographic evaluation was done by using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) enabled determination of the nucleation onset at all treatments and subsequent on the development of acicular ferrite of isothermally treated titanium free micro-alloyed steel. The results show that during continuous cooling, dominantly acicular ferrite microstructure is formed. Main characteristics of acicular ferrite are intragranular nucleation and strongly disorganized microstructure with a larger ability to deflect cracks. Acicular ferrite is, therefore, widely recognized to be a desirable microstructure due to good mechanical properties.