Effect of low-temperature hot rolling on the microstructure and mechanical properties of air-cooling medium manganese martensitic wear-resistant steel

In this paper, the low-temperature hot rolling was conducted on air-cooled medium manganese martensitic steel, utilizing a finishing rolling temperature (FRT) that was significantly lower than the conventional used temperature. The effect of FRT on the microstructure, mechanical properties and wear resistance was systematically investigated. The results revealed that the pancaked austenite grain formed after low-temperature hot rolling could still be completely transformed into martensite structure under air-cooled condition. The lower FRT significantly refined the martensite multi-level microstructures, increased the grain boundaries density and dislocations density, and promoted the nano-scaled V(C, N) precipitation. These resulted in enhanced refinement strengthening, dislocation strengthening and precipitation strengthening. Compared to the FRT-900 sample, the FRT-700 sample exhibited increased yield strength, tensile strength, and Brinell hardness, with values rising from 973 MPa, 1526 MPa, and 454 HB to 1174 MPa, 1701 MPa, and 482 HB, respectively. In addition, the refined microstructure effectively increased the dimple region in the fractography of impact samples, preventing the propagation of crack and thereby enhancing the impact absorbing energy. Consequently, the impact absorbed energy at −40 °C of experimental steel was increased from 28 J to 38 J, while also increasing strength. Moreover, the low-temperature hot rolling effectively increased the surface hardness of the experimental steel, inhibited abrasive embedding and improved impact wear resistance. The mass loss rates of low-temperature hot rolling samples were 0.052 mg/s and 0.063 mg/s under the impact energy of 1 J and 2.5 J, respectively.