An innovative process for producing high-performance stainless steel/carbon steel composite plate by the controlled rolling

The traditional composite plate rolling process is long with high energy consumption and large microstructure gradient, which restricts the large-scale production seriously. Therefore, this paper proposes an innovative short rolling process, advancing the starting point with the cast billet to produce the high-performance 1Cr13/Q235 composite plates by the controlled rolling. The influence of the reduction ratio on the microstructure and properties of the composite plate was systematically studied. The findings indicate that the tensile strength of the composite plate produced by the innovative process can be up to 897 MPa, while the shear strength can be up to 446 MPa. The maximum diffusion distance of the Cr element can be up to 18.3 µm with the reduction ratio of 45% to 75%. More and more Cr element diffuses from the 1Cr13 side to the Q235 side as reduction ratio increases from 45% to 55%. Meanwhile, the microstructure and its gradient of the composite plates are obviously refined with increasing reduction ratio. Many carbon atoms migrate from the Q235 side to the 1Cr13 side across the bonding interface. Subsequently, a zone of decarburization appeared in the Q235 side. The feasibility of the innovative process provides technical support for the production of stainless steel composite plates characterized by high efficiency, low energy consumption, and environmental protection.