Effect of Cold Rolling on Morphology of Carbides and Properties of 7Cr17MoV Stainless Steel

The evolution of the carbides and mechanical properties of 7Cr17MoV stainless steel used as cutlery material during cold rolling was investigated in this study. The results demonstrate that the microstructure of the rolled steel is composed of pearlite and spheroidal carbides. After cold rolling, the aggregation of carbides was no longer evident, and the carbides appeared to be small in size and uniformly distributed, whereas carbides in hot-rolled strips are clearly aggregated. Decreasing the thickness of the cold-rolled strips decreased the size of the carbide particles while increasing their number, which improved the particle distribution. A large number of fine, even nano-scaled carbides were observed in the material. The carbide phase, which primarily consisted of M₂₃C₆, did not change during cold rolling and annealing. The tensile strength and yield strength first decreased and then increased, and the elongation increased as the thickness of the cold-rolled strips decreased. Dimples and inclusion particles were readily observed upon tensile fracture. The inclusions are identified to be primarily carbides and oxide inclusions.