Original Article

Microstructure evolution and kinetic analysis of low carbon micro-alloyed high-strength steels in recrystallization process

¹ Zhejiang XCC Group Co., LTD, Xinchang, Shaoxing 312500, PR China
² School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China
³ College of Mechanical Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China

^* e-mails: zhangbing@xcc-zxz.com; jingwang@dhu.edu.cn

Received: 20 February 2025
Accepted: 27 May 2025

Abstract

The current research investigated the microstructure and transformation kinetics of low carbon micro-alloyed high-strength steels under various recrystallization conditions. It was found that the stripped grains developed in cold-rolling process were transformed into the recrystallized grains when extending the holding time in annealing heat treatment. The recrystallization rate became higher when increasing the annealing temperature. The hardness decreased with increasing temperature or extending the holding time since the completion percentage of recrystallization was higher. In the analysis of transformation kinetics, the recrystallization kinetics equations were established, and the activation energy for recrystallization process was found to be 9.367 × 10⁵ J/mol.