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The ultrafine grain with the effective grain size of 1.10 μm was fabricated by intercritical deformation on low-carbon microalloyed steel, which was finer than the deformation induced ferrite transformation (DIFT) at 1.55 μm. During intercritical deformation, the DIFT process was enhanced, showing a colony distribution of the refined grains. Meanwhile, the continuous dynamic recrystallization of pro-eutectoid ferrite was developed by both the subgrains progressively trapping dislocations and the serrated boundary pinching off the elongated grains. These processes were directly observed through the grain average misorientation maps of electron back-scattered diffraction and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy micrographs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the series temperature Charpy impact and drop-weight tear test (DWTT) were investigated, the misorientation angles among structural boundaries where the cleavage crack propagated were identified, and angles of {100} cleavage planes between adjacent grains along the cleavage crack propagated path were calculated in five directions (0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° to the rolling direction) of high-grade pipeline steel. Furthermore, the effective grain size (grain with misorientation angles greater than 15°) was redefined, and the quantitative influences of the redefined effective grain size on Charpy impact and DWTT is also discussed synthetically. The results showed that the microstructure presented a typical acicular ferrite characteristic with some polygonal ferrite and M-A islands (composed of martensite and retained austenite), and the distribution of the high-angle grain boundaries were mainly distributed in the range of 45°–65° in different directions. The Charpy impact energy and percent shear area of DWTT in the five directions increased with refinement of the redefined effective grain size, composed of grains with {100} cleavage planes less than 35° between grain boundaries. The ductile-to-brittle transition temperature also decreased with the refining of the redefined effective grain size. The redefined effective grain boundaries can strongly hinder fracture propagation through electron backscattered diffraction analysis of the cleavage crack path, and thus redefined effective grain can act as the effective microstructure unit for cleavage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]