Effect of precipitation and solution behavior of impurities on mechanical properties of low activation vanadium alloy

Since vanadium alloys work harden during rolling to produce plate and such processing results in anisotropic mechanical properties, a post rolling heat treatment is required to recover the material properties. The effect of heat treatment temperature on mechanical properties was investigated and it was confirmed that heat treatment at 1073 K would recover the work hardening and provide better mechanical properties. In addition, the precipitation behavior of Ti–C–O was studied using solution heat treated plate to observe changes in the mechanical properties. Fine precipitates formed in high density at 973 K, increasing the yield stress. At 1173 K, larger precipitates formed at low density which decreased the yield stress. The 1373 K heat treatment dissolved all precipitates and resulted in a higher yield stress than that at 1173 K.