Effect of Aging Time on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties in a Cu-Bearing Marine Engineering Steel

This study elucidated the structure–property relationship in a Cu-bearing marine engineering steel that was water cooled and then aged at 500 °C for 0.5–3 h. The microstructural features, tensile properties and impact properties were comparatively investigated as a function of aging time. When the aging period was increased, the Cu precipitates underwent coarsening, and a stable face-centered cubic (fcc) formation occurred. Additionally, the tensile properties were significantly improved at the expense of low temperature toughness, which can be attributed to the presence of nano-sized Cu precipitates. The increment of yield strength mainly derived from Cu precipitate–dislocation interaction strengthening effects (232 MPa for 1 h and 199 MPa for 3 h.) during aging process. Therefore, optimization of mechanical properties was achieved by controlling the parameters of aging process. The peak age hardening condition (i.e., at 500 °C for 1 h) resulted in the yield strength of 755 MPa, tensile strength of 812 MPa, elongation of 26.3% and impact energy of 78 J at −80 °C.