Quantitative analysis of microstructure and mechanical properties of Nb–V microalloyed high-strength seismic reinforcement with different Nb additions

Abstract

Abstract HRB500E seismic steel bars are mainly used in high-rise buildings near the seismic zone. The influence of different niobium contents (0–0.023%) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of HRB500E seismic reinforcement was studied. Results showed that the grain size of ferrite was between 3.6 and 8.3 μm when only V was added. Meanwhile, as the niobium content increases, the ferrite particles are further refined. After adding niobium, the grain contribution increased by 9%. The addition of niobium significantly refined the grain size of HRB500E seismic reinforcement. The second-phase nano-elliptic precipitate is NbC. The precipitated phase is dispersed on the grain boundary and the matrix, and the dislocation density on the matrix promotes the precipitation of NbC particles along the dislocation line. The second-phase precipitation of niobium can form an effective pinning effect and then refine the pearlite spacing. The microhardness and the tensile strength also significantly improved. The yield strength increased from 509 to 570 MPa.