Abstract The effects of homogenization, cold working, and subsequent annealing treatment were studied on the microstructural evolution, mechanical properties, and passive properties of duplex stainless steel (DSS). A hot-rolled 2205 DSS was subjected to two processing routes. In one, the DSS goes through an extra homogenization step at 1100 °C for 1800 s before cold rolling. After cold deformation (~75%) the specimens were isothermally annealed at 900, 1000, and 1100 °C for 180 s. The microstructure evolution was studied by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XDR). Mechanical properties were evaluated by microhardness and tensile tests. The electrochemical behaviors were investigated by potentiodynamic measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Mott-Schottky analysis (MS). Chemical composition of the lowest corrosion resistant passive film was assessed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Homogenization before cold rolling lowered strain hardening, slowing the microstructural transformation process. The thermomechanical process did not change the semiconductor type of the passive films. However, grain refinement after annealing improved the corrosion resistance in borate buffer solution. Cold rolling significantly decreased the corrosion resistance. The passive film of the specimen homogenized before cold rolling had the lowest corrosion resistance and high amounts of Cr(OH)3 and FeO.

Estudaram-se os efeitos da deformação na região de não recristalização da austenita e da taxa de resfriamento sobre a temperatura Bi (temperatura de início de transformação bainítica) e sobre a microestrutura final, de um aço ARBL bainítico de baixo carbono submetido a resfriamento contínuo, usando ensaios de torção a quente e resfriamento a gás He. As amostras foram submetidas a quatro programas de ensaios de torção, sendo quatro taxas de resfriamento acelerado para cada um. A evolução microestrutural com a taxa de resfriamento foi estudada por microscopia eletrônica de varredura e por medição de dureza Vickers. Os resultados mostram que, para a taxa de resfriamento de 2ºC/s, a microestrutura é constituída de ferrita poligonal e bainita, independente do grau de deformação. Para taxas de resfriamento mais altas, a microestrutura é, predominantemente, bainítica, com uma pequena quantidade de ferrita poligonal fina. Verifica-se que, para um mesmo grau de deformação, uma maior taxa de resfriamento implica uma menor temperatura Bi, sendo esse efeito mais pronunciado para as amostras não deformadas; e que, para uma mesma taxa de resfriamento, uma maior deformação na região de não recristalização resulta em uma maior temperatura Bi.

The influence of deformation in the non-recrystallization region of austenite and cooling rates on the bainitic transformation temperature (Bi) and final microstructure were studied in HSLA low carbon bainitic steel by means of hot torsion tests and accelerated cooling. The samples were submitted to four programs of torsion tests with four accelerated cooling rates for each one. The microstructure change from the cooling rate was studied by scanning electron microscopy and Vickers hardness. The results show that for a 2ºC/s cooling rate, the microstructure is composed of bainite and polygonal ferrite, independent of the deformation degree. For higher cooling rates, the microstructure is predominantly bainitic with a small quantity of fine polygonal ferrite. It was observed that for the same amount of deformation, a higher cooling rate induced a smaller Bi temperature, and this effect is more pronounced in samples without deformation. Otherwise, for the same cooling rate, the higher deformation amount in non-recrystallization region caused a higher Bi temperature.