Effect of inclusions on toughness and microstructures in simulated coarse-grain heat-affected zones of Al/Ti deoxidised and Nb/V microalloyed steels

To explore the effect of inclusions in the coarse-grain heat-affected zone (CGHAZ), four groups were designed using the 'Al/Ti deoxidised + Nb/V microalloyed' technical route. The toughness of the CGHAZ of Al-Ti-V-N steel was greatly promoted by the presence of polygonal ferrite (PF) after high heat input rather than the traditionally used acicular ferrite (AF). Furthermore, micron-sized inclusions in AF or PF were analysed, and the results indicated that the TiN and V (CN) particles attached on the Ti/Al oxide inclusions induced the nucleation of AF and PF. That can be concluded that the nucleation mechanism of PF is similar to that of AF. In addition, smaller micron- and nanoscale-size inclusions observed by transmission electron microscopy could not induce the nucleation of AF and PF because of the low heterogeneous nucleation energy. Nevertheless, these inclusions can have a drag effect on grain boundary migration.