Characterization of strain induced precipitation of Nb in microalloyed austenite using classical and novel techniques

In this contribution strain induced precipitation of niobium carbides has been analyzed making use of different hot-rolling simulators and combining the advanced precipitation characterization methods of selective chemical extraction and transmission electron microscopy. A laboratory cast Fe-0.1C-0.07Nb alloy has been employed for the study. Thermomechanical simulations were carried out by torsion, plastodilatometry and plane strain compression techniques. The results have shown that, in spite of the different deformation modes a relatively good correlation is obtained between the measurements of the precipitate size and the amount of Nb precipitated in the different experiments.