Effect of aging treatment during continuous annealing process on microstructure and properties of cold-rolled low carbon steel

doi:10.13251/j.issn.0254-6051.2025.04.035

Abstract

Abstract: On-line continuous annealing of two kinds of cold-rolled low carbon steel (0.076%C and 0.140%C, respectively) was carried out by using a continuous hot-dip galvanizing/continuous annealing dual-purpose unit, and the effect of aging starting temperature after rapid cooling on microstructure and properties of the steels was studied. The results show that when the aging starting temperature after rapid cooling decreases in the range of 400-480 ℃, the strength of the two steels increases slightly and the elongation changes a little. In addition, the aging starting temperature change has a little effect on the ferrite, but can change the morphology of the second phase. When the aging starting temperature is 480 ℃, the preformed precipitation of cementite maintains the original lamellar morphology. When the aging begins from 450 ℃ and 400 ℃, the cementite is mostly spherical or granular, distributed in the grain and at the grain boundary, the size of the cementite in the grain is small, generally at the nanoscale, and the precipitation size of a small amount of cementite at the grain boundary is relatively large.

Key words: low carbon steel, continuous annealing, microstructure, properties, precipitation

CLC Number:

TG142.1

Xiong Junwei, Xu Lixiong, Liu Huimei, Sun Changzheng, Hu Haijiang. Effect of aging treatment during continuous annealing process on microstructure and properties of cold-rolled low carbon steel[J]. Heat Treatment of Metals, 2025, 50(4): 231-236.

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