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JOURNAL OF IRON AND STEEL RESEARCH, INTERNNIONAI.. 2008, 15(2): 81-86

Research Development and Production of V-N Microalloyed

High Strength Rebars for Building in China
YANG Cai-fu' , WANG Quan-li'
(1. Central Iron and Steel Research Institute, Beijing 100081, China: 2. Capital Iron and
Steel Group Company, Beijing 100041, China)

Abstract: T h e research, production, and application of V-N microalloyed high strength rebars in China were re-
viewrd. Enhanced nitrogen in vanadium-containing rebars promotes the precipitation of fine V ( C , N ) particles, and
markcdly improves the precipitation strengthening effectiveness of vanadium. Therefore, vanadium added to V-N mi-
croalloyed rebars can be reduced by 40% compared to the same strength level of vanadium-containing rebars.
Key words: high strength reinforced bar; V-N microalloying ; precipitation strengthening

Reinforcing bars, a s the biggest steel products

in China, account for about one-fourth of the total
steel production. In recent years, the production
and consumption of hot-rolled rebars in China has
increased dramatically, with fast development of the
national building industry. As shown in Fig. 1 , the
total anriual rebar production in 2004 approaches 71 mil-
lion tons. nearly five times as much as that in 1995.
Howcver, the rebar product mix has no obvious
change a s yet, and is still dominated by grade 2 re-
bars in China building market. At present, near Production of rebars in China in past decade
80% of the rebar production is grade 2 rebars, with
minimum yield strength of 335 M P a , in the Chinese 1 Experimental Research of V-N Microalloyed
market. However, in the developed countries, the High Strength Rebars
rebars for building have been upgraded to grade 3 re-
bars, with an yield strength of 400 MPa or above. T h e microalloying process is mainly adopted
For example. grade 4 rebars with yield strength of t o develop high-strength weldable r e b a r s , all over
500 MPa have been widely used in Germany"'. A t h e world[l - 3 ~ :. During rebar production, a high
rolling speed and high finish rolling temperature are
large number of application experiences indicate that
quite suitable for the application of the vanadium mi-
rebar consumption can be saved by 1 4 % if the
strength of the rebars are upgraded from grade 2 to croalloying technique in rebar alloy design[". T h e
grade 3. Therefore, there will be a great social and latest rebar standard issued in China also recom-
mends the use of vanadium microalloying to produce
economic benefits if substitution of grade 3 rebars
for grade 2 rebars is promoted in China. grade 3 rebars with the minimum yield strength of
In the present study, the research. production, 400 MPaL3'. However, vanadium addition will
and application of high-strength rebars to the V-N markedly raise the production cost of rebars. It is
microalloyed process in China were reviewed. known that the microalloying element takes effect by

-~
Biography: YANG Cai-fu( 1965-1, Male, Doctor, Professor; E-mail: y a n g c a i f u B c i s r i . corn. c n ; Revised Date: April 2 8 , 2006
 82 Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International Vol. 15

precipitation of its carbonides/nitrides, and microal-

loyed nitrides have noticeably better strengthening
effectiveness than carbonides, as the nitride particles
are finer and more stable. A number of research re-
" ~ ~ that nitrogen is a cost-effective al-
s u l t ~ ~indicate
loying element in vanadium microalloyed steels, and
the strengthening effectiveness of nitrogen in vana-
dium bearing steel can reach a strength increment up
to about 6 MPa per 0.001 0 % of nitrogen. T h e suc-
cessful application of V-N microalloyed technology
to high-strength rebars helps to develop a cost-ef-
fective method for grade 3 rebar production in Chi-
na[&-9 1 V-containing steel V-N steel

1. 1 Effect of nitrogen Fig. 3 Vanadium distribution in vanadium-containing

steel and V-N steel
Fig. 2 shows the effect of nitrogen on the
strength of vanadium-bearing rebar steel. With the
strengthening and it is a waste of vanadium On the con-
same vanadium content, the strength of V-N steel is
trary, in V-N steel, 70% of vanadium forms V(C, N>pre-
much higher than that of vanadium steel. It can be
cipitates and only 20% dissolves in the matrix.
seen that with the enhancement of 0.010 0% in ni-
Hence, nitrogen addition alters vanadium distribu-
trogen, the yield strength and tensile strength of V-
tion in steel, and promotes the precipitation of vana-
N steel increase by 117. 5 MPa and 135 MPa, re-
dium dissolved in the matrix, thus improving the
spectively, compared to vanadium steel. T h e results
precipitation strengthening of vanadium.
show that nitrogen markedly improves the strength-
Table 1 lists the results of V ( C , N ) precipitate
ening effectiveness of vanadium in steel, which
volumes in vanadium-containing steel and V-N steel.
means that nitrogen is a very effective strengthening
It can be seen that the amount of V ( C , N) precipi-
element for vanadium-bearing rebars.
tate in V-N steel is over twice as much as that in va-
nadium-containing steel. It is clear that the enhanced
1. 2 Vanadium distribution and precipitation in rebars
nitrogen in V-N steel promotes vanadium precipitation
Vanadium distribution in vanadium-containing
markedly and it should be one of the main reasons for
steel and V-N steel is shown in Fig. 3. In vanadium-
the strength improvement in V-N steel,
containing steel, vanadium mainly exists as solid so-
Fig. 4 shows the size distribution of V ( C , N )
lution accounting for 56. 3% of the total vanadium
precipitates. T h e fraction of fine particles with a size
content, whereas, only 35. 5% of vanadium precipi-
of less than 10 nm in vanadium-containing steel is
tates in the form of V ( C , N ) . T h e results reveal
just 21. 1 % , whereas, the fraction is up to 32. 2 % in
that most of the microalloying element in vanadium-
V-N steel. As the result shows, nitrogen addition in
containing steel does not work toward precipitation
steel not only promotes precipitation of V ( C, N ) ,
ouu but reduces the average size of V ( C , N > particles,
Yield strength and greatly increases the fraction of fine particle pre-
0 Tensileslrength
n cipitates, which also makes a great contribution to-
ward increasing the strength in V-N steel.

Fig. 2
400

300

steel
i
O.ll%V-0.008 5%N 0.12%V-O.O18%N
steel

The strength of vanadium-containing steel and V-N steel

Table 1 Mass percent of V(C, N ) precipitates in

Vanadium-
vanadium-containing steel and V-N steel

Steel grade

containing steel
V-N steel
Composition

0.11%V-0.008 5 % N

0. 12%V-O. 018 O%N

Mass percent of
V ( C . N)
precipitation phase/ %

0.049 8

0. 106 2
Issue 2 Research, Development, and Production of V-N Microalloyed High Strength Rebars * 83
~

and V-N steel mainly results from different contri-

butions of precipitation strengthening and grain re-
15 finement strengthening. T h e contribution of precipi-
tation strengthening and grain refinement strengthe-
6 ning on the yield strength for V-N steel is over 70%.
0
2 Production and Properties of V-N Microal-
loyed Rebars
2.1 Optimization of chemical composition for V-N reban
On the basis of research studies in the laborato-
r y * the strengthening capability of vanadium and V-
N microalloying in high strength rebars* produced
by the converter and continuous casting process,
10 40 70 100 130 160 190 220 250 280
Particle sizdnm
have been compared, using mill scale trials. T h e
mill trial results are shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen
Fig. 4 Particle size distribution of V(C, N ) precipitates in that the V-N rebars containing vanadium of 0. 03% -
vanadium-containing steel ( a ) and V-N steel ( b ) 0.09 % and vanadium-containing rebars with vanadi-
um of 0. 0 6 % - 0. 1 4 % reach almost the same
1.3 Strengthening mechanism of V-N rebars strength level. T h e mill trial results also indicate
On the basis of numerous research results, the
that the strengthening capability of vanadium in V-N
strength of microalloyed steels Re can be expressed
by[lo1 . steel is much stronger than that in vanadium-contai-
ning steel. T h u s , for a given strength requirement,
R,,=85. 7+37wMn f 8 3 ~ sf j1 7 . 4 X D - 1 ' 2 f R p ~( 1 ) the vanadium content in V-N microalloyed steel can
where wM,, , wskare the content of manganese and sil- be markedly saved when compared with vanadium-
icon, respectively; the second and the third terms
containing steel.
denote manganese and silicon solid strengthening, T h e regression results on the strength data of
respectively; the forth term denotes grain refine-
the mill trial rebars indicate that the yield strengths
ment strengthening; and RpR denotes precipitation of vanadium-containing steel and V-N steel can be
strengthening.
expressed a s per the following formulae:
According to the experimental results of ferrite
Vanadium-containing steel
grain size and yield strength for tested steels, the (2)
Re =R,(P~M~S,) f 1 056 X wv
contribution of each strengthening mechanism to the
V-N steel
yield strength of vanadium-containing steel and V-N
steel is shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that the
Re = R e c 2 m n w+ 1 994 X wv (3)
where wv is the mass percent of vanadium.
strength difference between vanadium-containing steel It can be seen clearly from the regression re-
Ci0 sults that the strengthening effect of vanadium in the
Precipitation
Grainsize
V-N rebars is almost double when compared with
500 that of the vanadium-containing rebars.
0 Solid solution
W Base
400 c Rebars diameter:012-40 m m I
f
5
300

200
s
s 100
1 Yield strength/ I
0
20MnSi V-containing V-N rebar 0.02 0.06 0.10 0.14
rebar Vanadium content&

Fig. 5 Strengthening mechanism of 2OMnSi, vanadium- Fig. 6 Effect of vanadium on the strength for the
containing rebar, and V-N rebar steel mill trial scale rebars
 * 84 * Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International Vol. 15
-

The optimized compositions of grade 3 rebars with
vanadium-containing and V-N microalloyed process
are given in Table 2. T h e vanadium content in V-N
microalloyed grade 3 rebars with minimum yield
strength of 400 MPa can be reduced to 0.02% -
0. 0 4 % , and is only half level in V-Fe microalloyed
grade 3 rebars.
2.2 Process consideration
It is easy to control the production process for
V-N microalloyed grade 3 rebars. As a matter of fact,
there is essentially no difference in the production
process of V-N microalloyed grade 3 rebars com-
pared to that of 2OMnSi grade 2 rebars. For achie-
ving the maximum precipitation strengthening
effect, it is necessary to make sure that there is full
dissolution of vanadium carbonitrides during soa-
king. It is not difficult to dissolve V(C, N) precipi-
tates fully in vanadium-containing steel because of
its high solubility, hence, the billet‘s reheating tem-
perature is not too high, and normally it is reheated
to 1 150-1 200 “C. T h e accelerating cooling process
is generally used after finish rolling, for refining the
final ferrite grain size.
Steady recovery of vanadium and nitrogen is
very important to control the fluctuation of the re-
bar‘s properties, The statistical results from a number
of industrial production data shows that the scatter of
the vanadium content is very narrow ( zk0.002 % ) in V-
N grade 3 rebars microalloyed by the Nitrovan alloy, an
additive of vanadium and nitrogen. In contrast, the scat-
ter in the vanadium-containing rebar steel adding fer-
rovanadium reaches the level of +O. 01 % and is almost
5 times higher than that in V-N rebars.
Nitrogen content in V-N steels depends on the
vanadium addition. T h e mill trial results show that
for optimized industrial operations, when each
0.01% of vanadium is added, 0.001 0 % of nitrogen
is added for Nitrovan 12 and about 0.001 3% of ni-
trogen is added for Nitrovan 16.
2 . 3 Properties of V-N rebars
2. 3. 1 Tensile properties
T h e mechanical properties of V-N microalloyed
grade 3 rebars are given in Table 3 and Table 4 , and
the effect of the rebar size on the mechanical proper-
ties is shown in Fig. 7. It can be clearly seen that the
mechanical properties of V-N microalloyed rebars
are quite stable. T h e yield strength fluctuates be-
tween 425 MPa and 500 MPa with a fluctuation
scope of 75 MPa, although the tensile strength fluc-
tuates between 575 MPa and 660 MPa, with a fluc-
tuation scope of 85 MPa, and elongation is between
1 9 % and 32%. All kinds of rebars meet one-class
anti-quake requirements, where the tensile/yield
strength ratio is higher than 1. 25.

Table 2 The chemical composition of grade 3 rebars in mass percent %

Steel Rebar size c Si Mn P. s V N Additive
<16 mm 0. 18-0.24 0. 45-0. 60 1. 25-1. 45 0. 035 0. 05-0. 07 Res.
Vanadium-containing steel V-Fe
>16-40 mm 0. 1R-0. 24 0. 45-0. 60 1. 25-1.45 0. 035 0.07-0. 09 Res.
<IS mm 0.18-0.24 0.45-0. 60 1.25-1.45 0.035 0.02-0.03 Res. +(O. 002 0-0.003 0 ) l )
V-N steel V- N
>16-40 mm 0. 18-0. 24 0. 45-0. 60 1. 25-1. 45 0.035 0. 03-0. 04 Res. + ( 0 . 003 0-0. 004 0 ) ”
Note: 1) The number after Kes. is enhanced nitrogen from V-N alloy additive.

Table 3 Mechanical properties of V-N microalloyed hot-rolled rebars

R,/MPa R,/MPa Al% &/Re
Rebar sizelmm
Scope Average Scope Average Scope Average Average
10 480-500 493 650-675 665 26 - 33 30 1.35
12 460-490 478 600-640 631 29-32 30 1. 32
14 450-500 482 590-640 625 26-33 28 1. 3 0
16 430-485 463 585-620 616 26-29 27 1. 33
20 465-490 478 605-640 622 22-29 26 1. 30
22 445-485 468 590-645 621 24-27 25 1. 33
25 450- 500 474 590-660 623 19-31 26 1. 3 1
28 425-475 447 575-640 608 22-29 25 1. 36
32 455-480 467 605-625 614 20-23 22 1. 3 1
36 440- 500 458 595-610 602 22-24 23 1. 3 1
40 445-465 455 590-625 608 18-25 22 1. 34
Issue 2 Research, Development, and Production of V-N Microalloyed High Strength Rebars 85 *
~ _- ~
- ~ _ _ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _

Table 4 Mechanical properties of V-N microalloyed coiling rebars

Chemical cornposition/%
Size/rnm R, / M P a R,/MPa A/ %
C si Mn V
$6 0.23 0.57 1.41 0.030 475-530 645-705 2 2 - 36
$6 0.23 0.57 1.41 0.030 495-520 -680- 7 15 21-28
$6 0.21 0.54 1.36 0.023 460-475 680-695 25 - 30
$8 0.21 0.55 1.36 0.024 460-480 665--670 26-30

ation of V-N rebars and ZOMnSi rebars. T h e results

700 I I
Tensile slrength show that no strain aging phenomenon occurs in V-N
rebars. but a significant strain aging response can be
g 6on.
seen in the 20MnSi grade 2 rebars.
2. 3. 3 Welduhility
Four typical welding methods for rebar joints, in-
cluding flash butt welding (FBW) , gas-pressure welding
400 I. (GPW), shield metal arc welding ( S M A W ) , and elec-
35 1 troslag pressure welding (ESPW) , have been used to
evaluate the weldability of V-N microalloyed rebars.
T h e testing results in Table 6 show that V-N micro-
alloyed hot-rolled ribbed rebars have excellent weld-
ability and are suitable for the different welding
10 20 30 40 processes mentioned earlier.
Diameter of rebardmm
2. 3. 4 L o w c y c l e f u t i g u e
Pig. 7 Effect of rebar size on the strength and Fig. 8 shows the curve of t he fatigue life of V-N
the elongation of V-N rebars and ZOSiMn rebars. T h e experimental results indi-
cate that the fatigue property of V-N rebars is a little
2. 3. 2 Struin aging better than that of ZOSiMn rebars.
T h e strain-aging index, that IS, the increase in
flow stress aftcr aging in a prestrained sample, was Table 5 Effect of aging on the properties of V-N rebars
used to ev d u a te the strain aging of V-N rebars. By Nonayirig After aging
the requirement of the national standard on the Steel
K,IMPa R,,/MPa A/% lI,IMPa R,/MPa A/%
strain aging te s t, the prestrain was selected as 5 % ,
V N 460 640 27 470 655 25.0
and the aging as 250 'C for 1 h.
20MnSi 380 575 30 425 615 24.5
Table 5 shows the results of the strain aging evalu-

Table 6 The mechanical properties of welding joints

~~

Cold bending of 90"

Welding proce\\ Sizrlrnm R,/MPa R, /MPa Position of fracture
d= 5U d=6u
625 475, 455. 455 655, 640, 6.10 Base Pass
FI3W $3 2 4 4 0 , 4 3 0 , 420 5 9 0 , 610, 590 Base Pass
$3 -6 430, 430, 435 610. 605, 615 Base Pass
~-
$2 5 450, 4 5 5 , 435 630. 635, 625 Base Pass
GPW $3 2 4 1 5 , 4 2 0 , 420 5 9 0 , 595, 595 Base Pass
63 6 1 4 0 , 4 2 5 , 435 615. 600. 615 Base Pass
~_

SMAW $2 5 470. 470. 470 650, 650, 650 Hahe Pa>\

$2 5 650, 635, 650 Base Pas
ESPW
$3 2 615, 615, 610 Base Pass
Note: d is curvature for cold bending; and a is diameter of sample.
 86 Journal of Iron and Steel Research, International Vol. 15

ying, and vanadium saving can be over 40% com-

300 pared t o V-Fe microalloyed rebars.
250
( 3 ) Stable mechanical properties can be ob-
tained in V-N microalloyed grade 3 rebars. The in-
5 200 dustrial production results indicate that the fluctua-
aJ
150 tion of yield strength and tensile strength for grade 3
k rebars can be controlled within 75 MPa and 85 MPa,
100 which ensures that the rebars satisfy the first class
50 aseismatic requirements.
4 6 6 7 (4) V-N microalloyed grade 3 rebars show a
StXainpm
satisfactory service performance. Along with high
Fig. 8 Curve of fatigue life of V-N and 2OMnSi rebars ductility, they also exhibit high strength, low sus-
ceptibility to strain aging, good weldability , and aseis-
3 Production and Application of High Strength matic characteristics.
Rebars in China ( 5 ) A fast growth in the production of grade 3
rebars has been seen in China in the past five years;
Fig. 9 shows the variation of production and however, the proportion of grade 3 rebars in the to-
proportion of high-strength grade 3 rebars in China tal rebar production is still very low, only about
since 2000. It can be seen that there was a rapid 10%. Therefore, producers and users of grade 3 re-
growth in the production of grade 3 rebars in the last bars still need to exhibit long-term joint efforts to
five years. The total production for grade 3 rebars promote its application.
increased to 8.5 Mt in 2004 from 260 kt in 2000.
However, the proportion of grade 3 rebars in the to- References:
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