Modelling the strain-induced precipitation kinetics of vanadium carbonitride during hot working of precipitation-hardened Ferritic-Pearlitic steels

A model for describing the strain-induced precipitation kinetics of vanadium carbonitride in the hot deformed austenite of precipitation-hardened Ferritic-Pearlitic (AFP - Ausscheidungshartende Ferritisch-Perlitische) steels is presented. The model considers heterogeneous nucleation of precipitates on dislocation nodes and predicts the volume fraction, size and composition of the precipitates as well as the composition of the remaining austenite during the nucleation, growth and coarsening stages of the precipitation process. The effect of static recovery on the precipitation kinetics is also incorporated in the model. A fairly good agreement between the model predictions and experimental observations is demonstrated. (C) 2014 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.