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This article is devoted to the influence of copper on the bainitic transformation. Copper addition hinders proeutectoid ferrite formation and thus is favourable for bainitization. Copper is also one of the alloying elements used for the precipitation in ferrite matrix. The precipitation is usually induced by the formation of supersaturated copper solution in ferrite and subsequent heating. Normal way to achieve this treatment is quenching and tempering.However, copper precipitation can be also induced during continuous cooling, if the austenite decomposition temperature is sufficiently high. Isothermal quenching into salt bath is a possibility to obtain both transformation strengthening and precipitation strengthening in one-step process.Steel with 0.2 % of carbon and different Mn and Cu content was examined. Samples were austenitised and cooled in salt bath of different temperatures; from 320 to 420 °C. Mechanical properties were measured by tensile test and hardness measurement. Metallography analysis was performed to compare structure of the samples.
Keywords: Steel, Bainite, Copper precipitation, Precipitation hardening© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.