Vanadium - Transforming Possibilities

The Role of Nitrogen in Vanadium Structural and Engineering Steels

Abstract:

Vanadium is added to structural steels to increase their strength through precipitation of vanadium carbonitrides in ferrite and/or through grain refinement. Some of these steels also contain nitrogen at levels above the normal residual levels of 0.006/0.008%. Nitrogen, however, when present in solid solution, can have serious detrimental effects on the toughness of steels, especially of welds, and the use of high nitrogen vanadium steels is therefore restricted. This report sets out the advantages of using nitrogen with vanadium and indicates the circumstances in which it is beneficial to use high nitrogen contents and where it is dangerous and unacceptable. There are also some grey areas where the effect of nitrogen with vanadium is not clearly established and where further research is desirable, these are also indicated in the report.

Keywords:

vanadium, nitrogen, structural and engineering steels