How Nitrovan® Vanadium Provides More Efficient Strengthening Through Efficient Precipitation

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MORE EFFICIENT STRENGTHENING FROM SMALLER PRECIPITATES

When Nitrovan® vanadium is added to steel, vanadium preferentially combines with nitrogen to form nitrogen-rich vanadium-carbonitride precipitates. The nucleation rate of these precipitates increases at higher nitrogen contents and produces a large number of small particles, as shown below. These small precipitates provide more efficient strengthening, reducing vanadium additions.

Chart 1

For example, increasing the nitrogen content from 80 to 160 parts per million reduces the particle diameter by half but increases the number of particles eight times. The larger number of small precipitates gives more efficient strengthening by reducing the distance between particles.

Chart Two

As a result, the greater number of smaller vanadium-carbonitride precipitates formed by Nitrovan® vanadium strengthens steel more efficiently than the coarser vanadium-carbide precipitates formed by ferrovanadium.