Factors Affecting the Low Temperature Impact Toughness of Structural Steels

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Structural steels are used for numerous applications in the petroleum, energy, manufacturing and mining industries. There are some concerns with the reliability of these steels at cold temperatures. This is due to the well-known phenomenon of Ductile to Brittle Transition (DBT) at low temperatures. Internal work at Steel Image Inc. has clearly demonstrated that traditional equations for assessing a steel's suitability for low temperature applications do not capture all of the important variables. As such, there is a risk of failure even when the steel is deemed acceptable according to the present standards. The goal of this work is to utilize advanced characterization capabilities at McMaster University to understand the factors that control the impact toughness of structural steels meeting ASTM A36. In addition to mechanical testing, Optical Metallography (OM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Atom Probe Tomography (APT) will be utilized to characterize the microstructure at all the relevant length-scales. The anticipated findings of this project will allow Steel Image Inc. to provide its clients with improved guidelines to ensure cold temperature reliability of low carbon structural steels. This will reduce the risk of accidents that could put lives, infrastructure and the environment at risk. In addition, the success of this project would allow the industry partner to grow in the area of process and heat-treatment development leading to new opportunities for job-creation.