Issue 11 Effect of Subcritical Annealing Temperature on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of SCM435 Steel 1031

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JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH, INTERNATIONAL. 2015, 22(11): 1031-1036

Effect of Subcritical Annealing Temperature on Microstructure and Mechanical

Properties of SCM435 Steel
Cheng JI, Lei WANG, Miao-yong ZHU
(School of Materials and Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, Liaoning, China)

Abstract: The effect of subcritical annealing temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of SCM435 steel was inves-
tigated through changing the heating and soaking temperature as 660 °C, 680 °C, 700 °C, 720 °C and 745 °C. The microstructure
and mechanical properties of intercritically annealed specimens were analyzed. With increasing the subcritical annealing tempera-
ture from 660 °C to 720 °C, the spheroidization ratio gradually increased, and the mechanical properties, formability and Vickers
hardness were improved. According to the comprehensive comparison of mechanical properties and formability, the subcritical
process at soaking temperature of 680í720 °C could achieve similar annealing effect as that of intercritical process. Therefore, the
subcritical annealing temperature could be set as 700 °C in practice, with the Ac1WHPSHUDWXUHÀXFWXDWLRQZLWKLQ“ƒ&DQGWKH
applicability and stability of subcritical annealing were guaranteed in industrial application. The plant results of the cold heading
VKRZHGWKDWWKHVXEFULWLFDODQQHDOLQJFRXOGUHSODFHRULJLQDOLQWHUFULWLFDODQQHDOLQJVXFFHVVIXOO\ZLWKVLJQL¿FDQWO\VDYLQJWLPHDQG
energy.
Key words: subcritical annealing; spheroidization ratio; SCM435 steel; microstructure; mechanical property; formability

SCM435 steel is a medium carbon steel with main structure. Gang et al.[13] compared the effect of different
composition (mass%) of C 0.35, Si 0.17, Mn 0.75, Cr initial microstructures, such as ferrite, pearlite, bainite
1.00 and Mo 0.20. It has been widely applied to manu- and martensite, on the behavior of cementite particles
facture high strength bolts of automobile engine. In order during subcritical annealing of medium carbon steel. Guo
to avoid splitting during cold heading, this steel should et al.[14] investigated the subcritical annealing of 50CrV4
be spheroidized to achieve necessary formability [1,2]. steel with different reduction ratios, and the relationship
However, spheroidizing is a time and energy consuming between the mechanical properties and the soaking time
SURFHVVZKLFKXVXDOO\WDNHVíKGHSHQGLQJRQWKH was investigated as well. On the basis of previous re-
alloy and the size of the load, and many researchers pro- search, the heating and soaking temperature of subcritical
posed different methods to accelerate spheroidizing pro- DQQHDOLQJVKRXOGEHNHSWDVíƒ&ORZHUWKDQAc1 tem-
cess such as pearlite deformation-assisted technology[3-8], perature[1,13-15]. However, in the industrial production, the
initial rolling microstructure improvement[9,10], cyclic critical temperature usually fluctuates more than 10 °C
heat treatment[11,12], subcritical annealing process[1,13-15], due to the variation of the element contents, and it is dif-f
and so on. ¿FXOWWRHQVXUHWKDWWKHKHDWLQJDQGVRDNLQJWHPSHUDWXUH
Subcritical annealing is a simple method that steel of subcritical process could be always slightly lower than
is heated and held slightly below the lower critical tem- Ac1 temperature. It may be the main reason why steel
perature ((Ac1) before slowly cooling to room temperature, companies had to use the intercritical annealing due to its
and most of the studies have focused on the effects of better stability.
initial microstructure and soaking time on the subcriti- In the present work, the influences of the heating
FDO DQQHDOLQJ 2‫މ‬%ULHQ DQG +RVIRUG[1] investigated the and soaking temperatures on spheroidization ratio and
mechanical properties and microstructures of two typi- mechanical properties during the subcritical annealing of
cal medium carbon steels with different soaking time for medium carbon steel SCM435 were investigated. Com-
intercritical process and subcritical process separately, pared with the effect of intercritical annealing process,
and the subcritical process required much less time for the control target value of subcritical annealing tempera-
spheroidization than the intercritical process when the ture for SCM435 steel was given, and the applicability of
6WHOPRUSURFHVVSURYLGHGWKH¿QHULQLWLDOSHDUOLWHPLFUR- VXEFULWLFDODQQHDOLQJSURFHVVZDVSURPRWHGVLJQL¿FDQWO\
Foundation Item: Item Sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China (51474058); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities off
China (N130402017)
Biography: Cheng JI, Doctor, Associate Professor; E-mail: [email protected]; Received Date: June 1, 2015
Corresponding Author: Miao-yong ZHU, Doctor, Professor; E-mail: [email protected]
 1032 Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International Vol. 22

The test results in a Chinese plant show that the subcriti- from hot rolled wires of 11 mm in diameter, which were
cal spheroidization could replace the previous intercriti- mainly composed of bainite (B), ferrite (F) and pearlite
cal process very well with significantly saving the time (P), as shown in Fig. 1(a). The measured upper and lower
and energy. critical temperatures ((Ac3 and Ac1) of the SCM435 steel
were 796 °C and 745 °C respectively, and static continu-
1 Experimental Procedure ous cooling transformation (CCT) curves of SCM435
The specimens of SCM435 steel were machined steel are shown as Fig. 1(b).

Fig. 1 Metallographic (a) and static CCT curves (b) of initial SCM435 steel

As shown in Fig. 2, the specimens were heated to of 5 000 times were chosen in the measuring process of
different temperatures (660 °C, 680 °C, 700 °C, 720 °C each condition. The cementite particles with the aspect
and 745 °C) in a muffle furnace, soaked at these tem- ratio lower than 3 were considered as the spheroidized
peratures for 5 h, then cooled down to 500 °C in the particles[1].
furnace, and further cooled down to room temperature in The mechanical properties of spheroidized speci-
air. The furnace temperature was measured by the ther- mens, such as strength, elongation, and reduction of area,
mocouples, and its absolute error was controlled within were measured by tensile experiments using a universal
±1.0 °C. testing machine AG-Xplus100kN. The tensile specimens,
as shown in Fig. 3, were machined from the spheroidized
wires, and the deformation speed rate in tensile testing
was kept at 1 mm/min. The Vickers hardness of the speci-
mens was measured by hardness tester FM-700 with the
load of 0.98 N and time of 5 s.

Fig. 3 Dimensions of the specimens for tensile test

Fig. 2 Subcritical annealing process with different soaking
temperatures $FFRUGLQJWRWKHPHWKRGRI2‫މ‬%ULHQDQG+RVIRUG[1],
WKHÀDUHWHVWZDVFDUULHGRXWWRVLPXODWHWKHKRRSVWUDLQLQ
The spheroidized specimens were sectioned per- cold heading. As shown in Fig. 4, the spheroidized wire
pendicular to their longitudinal axis, and the microstruc- was cut into cylindrical specimens with inner diameter of
tures were revealed after polishing and etching with 4% 6.4 mm, outer diameter of 9.4 mm, and height of 55 mm,
nital solution. The cementite particles were recognized and the specimens were forced to expand over a conical
from the ferrite matrix by means of the image contrast tool with the speed of 1 mm/min until a split occurred
enhancement function of the Image-Pro-Plus 6.0, and at as shown in Fig. 5. The force and displacement were re-
OHDVWUDQGRP6(0PLFURJUDSKVZLWKWKHPDJQL¿FDWLRQ FRUGHGGXULQJWKHÀDUHWHVWLQJ
 Issue 11 Effect of Subcritical Annealing Temperature on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of SCM435 Steel 1033

hot rolled wires of 11 mm in diameter, but these wires

had been spheroidized in the continuous annealing fur-
nace in the steel company, and the corresponding inter-
critical annealing process is shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 4 Dimensions of the cylindrical specimen and the conical

WRROIRUÀDUHWHVW
Intercritical annealing process in the continuous an-
nealing furnace

2 Results and Discussion

2.1 Microstructure
Fig. 7 shows the microstructure of SCM435 steel
subjected to different annealing processes. At the spheroi-
dization temperature of 660 °C, the driving force for
FDUELGHSUHFLSLWDWLRQLVLQVXI¿FLHQWGXHWRORZHUWHPSHUD-
ture, which resulted in only some elongated cementite
particles formed on the interface of different structures
and the distribution of cementite particles reserved a part
of characteristics of initial microstructure, as shown in
Fig. 7(a).
With increasing soaking temperature, the diffu-
)LJ 6SOLWRQWKHÀDUHWHVWHGVSHFLPHQV sion driving force of carbon atom is enhanced, and the
VSKHURLGL]DWLRQHI¿FLHQF\LVLPSURYHGVLJQL¿FDQWO\)LJ
As contrast, the microstructure and the mechanical 7(b) shows that the number of the spheroidized cementite
property of specimens under the intercritical annealing particles increased obviously at the annealing temperature
process were analyzed to assess the effect of subcritical of 680 °C, while the distribution characteristics of the ini-
annealing. These specimens were also obtained from the tial microstructure could still be observed in some areas.

Fig. 7 SEM micrographs of specimens after subcritical process at soaking temperature of 660 °C (a), 680 °C (b),
700 °C (c), 720 °C (d), 745 °C (e) and after intercritical annealing process (f)
 1034 Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International Vol. 22

When the annealing temperature rose to 700 °C as aspect ratio increases with increasing cementites size,
shown in Fig. 7(c), almost all carbide precipitated in the and the average cementite aspect ratio of any annealing
form of cementite particles, and the Ostwald ripening process are lower than 3, when the cementite diameter is
trend of cementite particles was obvious. VPDOOHUWKDQȝP&RPSDUHGZLWKVXEFULWLFDODQQHDO-
At the annealing temperature of 720 °C, the spheroi- ing process, the cementites with intercritical annealing
dized cementite particles are distributed all over the process are nearly spherical due to its nucleation and
ferrite matrix evenly as shown in Fig. 7(d). The size of growth mechanism.
cementite particles located at some ferrite boundaries is
larger than others. The reason is that the larger particles
preferentially nucleated and dissolved smaller boundary
particles during coarsening.
When annealed at 745 °C, the microstructure con-
VLVWHGRIIHUULWHDQG¿QHSHDUOLWHDVWKHUHVXOWRIDXVWHQLWH
transformation, and a few of cementite particles were
formed due to the dissolution of some cementite lamellar
in the pearlite during the subsequent cooling process as
shown in Fig. 7(e).
As a contrast, the microstructure of SCM435 steel
with intercritical annealing is shown in Fig. 7(f), and the
heating cycle is illustrated in Fig. 6. During the intercriti-
Fig. 8 Spheroidization ratio and particles number with
cal annealing process, the abnormal austenite and some
different processes
undissolved carbides were formed when the SCM435
steel was heated and soaked at a temperature higher than
Ac1 temperature, and then the undissolved carbides act as
the nucleation core to form spheroidized carbide during
the following slowly cooling process. Therefore, the car-
bide particles with intercritical annealing process tend to
be spherical with a larger size but smaller amount.
Fig. 8 shows the particles number and spheroidiza-
tion ratio with different annealing processes. It can be
seen that the spheroidization ratio is higher than 85%
when the soaking temperature is controlled in the range
RIíƒ&ZKLOHWKHVSKHURLGL]DWLRQUDWLRDWƒ&
is only 78.83%. The number of cementite particles in-
creases from 2 470 to 2 984 with increasing the soaking
Diameter distribution ratio of cementites with
temperature from 660 °C to 700 °C, but the number drops
different annealing processes
to 2 467 due to Ostwald ripening when soaking tempera-
ture is 720 °C. The particles number at 745 °C is only
2 587, and its spheroidization ratio is only 68.22%, which
LVVLJQL¿FDQWO\ORZHUWKDQRWKHUSURFHVVHV$VDFRQWUDVW
the spheroidization ratio of intercritical annealing process
is 91.60%, but its particles number is only 1 952 due to
its different annealing mechanisms.
The diameter distribution ratio of cementites with
different annealing processes is shown in Fig. 9. About
RIFHPHQWLWHVDUHíȝPLQGLDPHWHUIRUDQ\
annealing process. With subcritical soaking temperature
RIíƒ&DERXWRIFHPHQWLWHVDUHQRWODUJHU
WKDQȝPLQGLDPHWHU+RZHYHUZKHQDGRSWLQJRWKHU
annealing processes, only about 25% of cementites are Fig. 10 Average aspect ratio of cementites with
smaller than 0.3 Pm in diameter, and their percentages different annealing processeses
RIFHPHQWLWHGLDPHWHUODUJHUWKDQȝPDUHKLJKHUWKDQ
WKDWRIíƒ&DQQHDOLQJSURFHVVDFFRUGLQJO\ 2.2 Mechanical properties
Fig. 10 shows the relationship between average aspect The stress-strain curves of SCM435 steel with dif-
f
ratio of cementites and its diameter with different an- ferent annealing processes and without annealing process
nealing processes. It can be clearly seen that the average are shown in Fig. 11, and the corresponding mechanical
 Issue 11 Effect of Subcritical Annealing Temperature on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of SCM435 Steel 1035

properties such as yield strength ((Re), tensile strength ((Rm), the ductility of steel before its fracture. As shown in Table
and percentage uniform elongation ((Ag) are listed in Table 1, the percentage uniform elongation is higher than 10%
1. The corresponding percentage elongation after fracture when the annealing soaking temperature is in the range
( ) and percentage reduction of area (Z)
(A Z were measured RIíƒ&LQWKHVXEFULWLFDOSURFHVVDQGLWLQFUHDVHV
from fracture specimens directly. with increasing soaking temperature. According to the
When the annealing process was carried out, the above analysis of mechanical properties, when the soak-
strength of SCM435 steel decreased significantly, and ing temperature is 700 °C, the comprehensive mechanical
the elongation and reduction of area were improved properties of the subcritical process are similar to those
greatly. of the intercritical process.
When the soaking temperature of subcritical process
increased from 660 °C to 720 °C, the tensile strength and
yield strength decreased from 518.86 MPa and 658.88
MPa to 465.58 MPa and 611.47 MPa, respectively.
However, when the soaking temperature increased to the
critical temperature ((Ac1=745 °C), the tensile strength and
yield strength sharply rose to 568.02 MPa and 679.33
MPa due to its ineffective annealing. With increasing
subcritical soaking temperature, the elongation and re-
duction area of SCM435 steel increased gradually below
the critical temperature, and then decreased sharply at the
critical temperature.
,QRUGHUWRDYRLGVSOLWFROGKHDGLQJVKRXOGEH¿Q-
ished in the stage of uniform deformation, and the per- Fig. 11 Stress-strain curves for SCM435 steel with different
centage uniform elongation was usually used to express annealing processes

Table 1 Mechanical properties of SCM435 steel with different annealing processes

Process Temperature/°C Re/MPa Rm/MPa Z
Z/% A/% Ag/%

Initial 713.95 928.62 53.76 14.31 5.48

660 518.86 658.88 69.47 21.21 8.44

680 506.78 665.98 71.06 21.40 10.48

Subcritical 700 477.15 625.18 71.70 23.20 12.21

720 465.58 611.47 68.64 31.00 13.27

745 568.02 679.33 60.11 19.84 7.90

Intercritical 440.81 624.06 68.79 21.55 12.42

2.3 Formability and Vickers hardness higher than 0.325, and the Vickers hardness is lower than
Fig. 12 shows the force-displacement curves of the 185 HV. As a contrast, the formability and Vickers hard-
flare test with different annealing processes. The corre- ness of the intercritical annealing process are 0.345 and
sponding formability and Vickers hardness are shown in 183.71 HV, respectively, which are similar to those of the
Fig. 13, among which the formability İ is assessed as[1] subcritical annealing process at the soaking temperature
H ln( Df / D0 ) (1) of 700 °C.
where, D0 and Df are the initial diameter and the diameter The comprehensive comparison of formability and
at the split point, respectively. Vickers hardness shows that the subcritical process with
'XULQJWKHÀDUHWHVWLQJRIVSHFLPHQZLWKRXWDQQHDO- VRDNLQJWHPSHUDWXUHLQWKHUDQJHRIíƒ&FRXOG
ing, the force increased with displacement more quickly achieve similar annealing effect as that of intercritical
due to the higher tensile strength, and the formability is process.
almost lower than half that of annealed process, as shown It is usually considered that the heating and soak-
in Fig. 13. ing temperatures should be controlled slightly below the
When the soaking temperature of subcritical pro- Ac1 temperature, and it is usually no more than 20 °C.
cess increases from 660 °C to 720 °C, the formability of According to the experimental results, the effect of sub-
SCM435 steel increases gradually, and the Vickers hard- critical annealing is acceptable even if the soaking tem-
ness decreases correspondingly. When the soaking tem- perature is 65 °C lower than the Ac1 temperature. As for
SHUDWXUHLVLQWKHUDQJHRIíƒ&WKHIRUPDELOLW\LV SCM435 steel, the control target value of soaking tem-
 1036 Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International Vol. 22

perature was set as 700 °C in practice, and the annealing annealing process increases from 660 °C to 720 °C for
effect could be achieved even the Ac1WHPSHUDWXUHÀXFWX- SCM435 steel, the spheroidization ratio increases, and
ates within ±20 °C. It is obvious that the availability and the mechanical properties, formability and Vickers hard-
stability of subcritical annealing process are improved ness are also improved.
due to the extended control range of soaking temperature. (2) According to the comprehensive comparison of
mechanical properties and formability, the subcritical
SURFHVVZLWKVRDNLQJWHPSHUDWXUHRIíƒ&FRXOG
achieve similar spheroidization effect as that of intercriti-
cal annealing process. Therefore, the subcritical anneal-
ing effect is acceptable when soaking the SCM435 steel
at 65 °C lower than Ac1 temperature, and the control tar-
get value of soaking temperature could be set as 700 °C
in practice which could allow the Ac1WHPSHUDWXUHWRÀXF-
tuate within ±20 °C.
(3) The results in the manufacturing plant after cold
heading showed that the derived control parameters of
subcritical annealing for SCM435 have replaced original
LQWHUFULWLFDODQQHDOLQJVXFFHVVIXOO\ZLWKVLJQL¿FDQWO\VDY-
)LJ 'LVSODFHPHQWIRUFHFXUYHVRIÀDUHWHVW ing time and energy.

The special thanks are due to the Xingtai Iron &

Steel Corporation for industrial trials and application.
References:

>@ -02ƍ%ULHQ:)+RVIRUG0HWDOO0DWHU7UDQV$

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(1) When the soaking temperature of subcritical No. 4, 45-52.