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Abstract
The influence of aluminium on steel microstructure has been examined in low nitrogen steels. There is a lack of knowledge in the literature about the effect of aluminium on steel microstructure at levels greater than 0·1 wt-%. This has not been important as aluminium additions are typically low, with the aluminium being added as a deoxidant and grain refining element. However, recently aluminium has been added at significantly higher levels (0·5–2 wt-%) in new types of transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels to delay the bainitic transformation and give a dual phase microstructure. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that aluminium can be considered as a solid solution strengthener in low nitrogen steels. To investigate the effect of aluminium on steel microstructure, steels of differing aluminium composition between 0·02 and 0·98 wt-% have been prepared and investigated by metallography and EBSD. The results show that aluminium has a significant effect on ferrite grain size and ferrite grain size distribution.