High-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels show excellent toughness when trace amounts of transition elements are added. In steels, prior austenite grain size (PAGS), which is often determined by the number of added elements, is a critical factor in determining the mechanical properties of the material. In this study, we used two etching methods to measure and compare the PAGS of specimens with bainitic HSLA steels having different Nb contents These two methods were nital etching and picric acid etching. Both methods confirmed that the sample with high Nb content exhibited smaller PAGS than its low Nb counterpart because of Nb’s ability to hinder austenite recrystallization at high temperatures. Although both etching approaches are beneficial to PAGS estimation, the picric acid etching method has the advantage of enabling observation of the interface containing Nb precipitate. By contrast, the nital etching method has the advantage of a very short etching time (5 s) in determining the PAGS, with the picric acid etching method being considerably longer (5 h).

Prior austenite grain size plays an important role in the production of high strength hot-rolled steel. This study investigated the effect of Ti and C contents on the precipitates and prior austenite grain size. Steel with no Ti solutes had prior austenite grain size of about 620 μm. The addition of Ti ~ 0.03 wt.% and 0.11 wt.% reduced the prior austenite grain size to 180 μm and 120 μm, respectively. The amount of Ti required to significantly decrease the prior austenite grain size was in the range of 0.03 wt.%. However, the amount of carbon required to significantly decrease the prior austenite grain size was not present from 0.04 wt.% to 0.12 wt.%. Oxides of Ti (Ti2O3) were observed as the Ti content increased to 0.03 wt.%. The specimen containing 0.11 wt.% of Ti exhibited the complex carbides of (Ti, Nb) C. The formation of Ti precipitates was critical to reduce the prior austenite grain size. Furthermore, the consistency of prior austenite grain size increased as the carbon and Ti contents increased. During the reheating process of hot-rolled steel, the most critical factor for controlling the prior austenite grain size seems to be the presence of Ti precipitates.