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20109 17(10): 63-67

JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH, I " H I 0 N A L .

Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of X120 Grade High Strength Pipeline Steel
ZHANG Ji-ming, SUN Wei-hua, SUN Hao
(Technology Center, Jinan Steel and Iron Group Corporation, Jinan 250101. Shandong, China)

Abstract: A new ultrahigh strength pipeline steel with high yield strength and high impact toughness was fabricated in this work, and mechanical properties and microstructure of the steel were investigated. The steel exhibited outstanding mechanical properties with yield strength levels of up to 951 MPa and tensile strength levels up to 1023 MPa. The sharp notch toughness with absorbed energy values of 227 J/cm2 at -30 *C and shear area of up to 95% in drop weight tear test (DWTT) at temperature of -20% were achieved. It was found that microstructure of the steel comprises a majority of low-carbon lath bainite with different sublaths and subsublaths, meanwhile there is a high density of dislocation between laths and the dispersed film-like martensiteaustenite (M-A) constituents. Most of the precipitates in this steel are duplex type containing Nb and Ti with characterized morphology of cap with the range of precipitation size from a few to tens nanometers. Key words: pipeline steel; mechanical property; lath bainite; precipitate

T h e use of crude oil and natural gas is rapidly increasing with the development of modern industry. Since many of oil and gas fields are all located far from large consuming regions, it is necessary to economically transport the oil and gas from the located fields to consuming regions. Pipelines are considered as the most economical and safe transportation of the oil and gas across a long distance. In order to reduce the transport costs by long-distance pipelines, high operation pressure and use of smalldiameter and thin-wall pipelines are effective, and this requires the pipeline steels which have the excellent combination of high strength and toughnessC'-23. T h e mechanical properties of pipeline steels depend on the different combination of microstructures. In order t o enhance strength and toughness of steels, the microstructures of pipeline steels have been transmitted from ferrite-pearlite to polygonal ferrite-acicular ferrite, acicular ferrite, and acicular ferrite and bainite, and so onc3-']. In addition, elemental additions such as Nb , V , T i , B and Mo are commonly carried out in pipeline steels in order to achieve the desired microstructure and the best mechhical properT h e microstructures of pipeline steels have
Biography:ZHANG Ji-rning(1977-), Male, Doctor;

an important effect on the strength and toughness properties. A lot of experiments had been preformed on the microstructure observation of the pipeline steels that the grades are no more than X80c4-93. However, the microstructures of higher grades pipeline steels have not been studied at present.' T h e objective of this study is to report the initial results concerning microstructure and precipitation behavior of the highest grade pipeline steel.

1 Experimental Procedure
The pipeline steel was continuously cast into slab after ladle refining. Then, it was rolled to plates with 16 mm thickness in a hot continuous rolling mill. T h e chemical composition of the investigated steels is given in Table 1. Standard tensile specimens with dimensions of 245 mmX 12.5 mm and gage length of 50 mm were prepared along longitudinal direction. Tensile tests were carried out on a M T S 810 mamm/s. Impact chine with a strain rate of 4. 2 X toughness was measured using a standard Charpy vnotch impact test at - 30 'C. Battelle-type drop C weight tear test (DWTT) was performed at -20 O to measure the ductile fracture ratio.
Received Date: October 9 , 2009

E-mail: jirningzhang@l26. corn;

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Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International

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S
0.002

Table 1 Chemical composition of experimental pipeline steel

Mn
1. 9

Nb
0.048

Ti
0.015

Mo
0. 30

Cr
0. 22

B
0.0013

P
0. 004

Fe Balance

Some samples were prepared cut from the hot-rolled plates for scanning electron microscopy ( S E M ) and transmission electron microscopy ( TEM observation. T h e samples for SEM were grounded on the abrasive papers and mechanically polished. Then the surface of specimen was etched in 4% of Nital solution. T h e microstructure was observed using Hitachi S4200 SEM. Carbon extraction replicas were also prepared for observation of the precipitates. Carbon was evaporated onto the etched surface of specimens. Subsequently, the sample was etched in 10% of Nital. Finally, the extracted replicas were rinsed with distilled water and placed on the copper grid and dried. The thin foils for the T E M investigation were prepared by the twin-jet polishing at -15 "C , using 5% of perchloric acid and 95% of ethanol solution as electrolyte. T h e foils and extraction replicas were observed on JSM 2100F TEM.

Table 2

Mechanical properties of experimental steel

~~

YS/
MPa
951

TS/ MPa
1023

Elongation/

%
26. 5

CVN energy" at -30 % / J

227

BDWTT shear area at -20 'C/%

95

Note: 1) CVN-Charpy

V-notch.

indicates that the pipeline steel has excellent toughness and plasticity.

2
2.1

Results and Discussion

Microstructure Observation by SEM T h e SEM morphology of the pipeline steel is shown in Fig. 1. It can be found that microstructure of the pipeline steel is fine lath bainite. T h e big bainitic packets are parallel to rolling direction. T h e coarse bainite laths are separated into the sublaths with different sizes. On the other hand, there are some more fine martensite/austenite ( M / A ) microstructure which is called M/A island between the bainitic packets or bainitic laths. M/A constituents are shown with an arrow in Fig. 1 ( b ) .
2.2

Mechanical properties T h e mechanical properties of the pipeline steel are listed in Table 2. Yield strength (YS) and tensile strength (TS) of the pipeline steel is 951 MPa and 1023 MPa, respectively. T h e strength is more than XlZOksi and reaches X120 grade in the API standard. Impact toughness energy is 227 J at -30 'C and ductile fracture ratio is 95% at Battelle-type drop weight tear testing (BDWTT) at -20 "C. This

2.3

Microstructural observation by TEM T E M images of the pipeline are shown in Fig. 2 , Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, respectively. It can be seen that the microstructure of the pipeline steel consists of the lath bainite, M/A constituents and dislocation substructures. T h e big lath bainite consists of a series of the fine sublaths. Moreover, these sublaths bainite contains the finer sub-sublath microstructure. The average size of the lath width is about 2 0 0 nm

Fig. 1 Microstructure morphology of pipeline steel by SEM

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Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of X120 Grade High Strength Pipeline Steel

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Fig. 2

The fine structure of bainite in the pipeline steel using TEM

Fig. 3

TEM micrograph of a bright field ( a ) , dark field (b) and SAD pattern (c) of M/A constituent in this pipeline steel

Fig. 4

Bright field TEM micrographs of the pipeline steel showing fine precipitates and dislocation substructure

(Fig. 2). Fig. 3 shows a bright field micrograph and dark field micrograph and selected area electron diffraction pattern of M/A constituent. There are some martensite-austenite constituents with the thin film

shape between the bainitic laths. T h e SAD pattern presented in Fig. 3 (c) indicated that austenite phase corresponds to [ O l l ] zone axis. Fig. 4 shows TEM images of precipitates and dislocations in pipeline

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steel. There are some dispersed fine precipites in bainitic matrix and the lath bainite with high density of dislocations.

Observation of precipitates by extraction replica T h e morphology, size distribution and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) analysis of the precipitates in the present pipeline steel are shown in Fig. 5. T h e results indicate that the precipitates disperse in the matrix. T h e size of precipitates is a few tens to a few nanometers. Most precipitates are the duplex type containing Nb and T i carbides. T h e
2.4

morphology is mainly the character of cap. T h e EDS result shows that the duplex type precipitates are the simple mixture of T i c and NbC particles. There is an interstice at the combination site of TIC and NbC particles. In the steels containing Ti and N b , T i forms T i c with carbon and TiN with nitrogen and is usually considered as precipitate former. With decrease of the temperature, the NbC particles begin to precipitate around the pre-formed T i c particles at a certain temperature. However, as much as 90 % of the total Nb may remain in solid solution. Since that NbC stability is much less than that of TiC"".

EnergykeV (a), (b) TEM morphology of precipitates; (c) EDS analysis of carbides corresponding to Fig. 5 (b).

Fig. 5

"EM morphology of precipitates obtained f o carbon extraction replica in the pipeline steel and EDS analysis of carbides rm
of a new X120 pipeline steel were investigated using SEM and TEM. T h e steel presents ultra high strength, excellent toughness and good plasticity. T h e SEM and T E M observation shows that the microstructure of the steel comprises a majority of the low-carbon lath bainite. Meanwhile, there is a small amount of dispersed film-like martensite-austenite (M-A) constituents between the bainitic laths. T h e precipitates in the steel are most of duplex type containing Nb and T i with cap-like morphology. T h e precipitation sizes. are a few to a few tens nanometers.
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T h e bainitic microstructure was obtained by adding molybdenum and boron in order to restrain the transformation of polygonal ferrite and pearlite in the present pipeline steel. The strength of bainitic steel is nearly equal to that of martensitic steel with the same composition. On the other hand, the fine low-carbon lath bainite has the combination of excellent strength and toughness because the retained thin film M/A microstructure is between the bainitic lathsC11-123.T h e film M/A constituent has high thermal stability with comparison to the blocky M/A island. Niobium and titanium were added into the steel by an amount of the carbon and nitrogen elements sufficient for stability. At the same time, the precipitation of Nb and Ti carbides has the role of improving strength and refining grain. Therefore, it can be concluded that the microstructure of the lath bainite plays a crucial role in enhancing the strength of the pipeline steel. Moreover, the thin film dispersive M/A microstructure benefits the increasing toughness of the steelC133.

[Z]

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3 Conclusions
T h e mechanical properties and microstructure
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