Tailoring the austenite characteristics via dual nanoparticles to synergistically optimize the strength-ductility in cold rolled medium Mn steel

In this work,we proposed a novel Cu/θdual nanoparticles strategy to tailor the austenite characteris-tics of a medium Mn steel via a tempering-annealing process to optimize the mechanical properties.We explored the effects of Cu-rich particles and cementite precipitated in the tempering process on the austenite reversion during the subsequent annealing process.Both experiments and numerical simula-tions verified that the austenite inherited from cementite had a finer size and a higher Mn enrichment compared with the austenite originating from the tempered martensite matrix.In addition,quantitative evaluations revealed that the pinning effect exerted by the Cu-rich particles could significantly hinder theα/γinterface migration and the recrystallized grain growth,thereby further refining the final mi-crostructure.With contributions from the effects of dual nanoprecipitates on the austenite reversion,the heterogeneous austenite grains inherited from varying nucleation sites ensured the sustained and gradual deformation-induced martensite and twinning formation.Therefore,the Cu-added steels subjected to a tempering-annealing process achieved synergetic enhancement of the tensile strength from 1055 MPa to 1250 MPa and elongation from 33%to 45%.This strategy may provide new guidance for the development and alloy design of high-performance medium Mn steels.

Yielding behavior of triplex medium Mn steel alternated with cooling strategies altering martensite/ferrite interfacial feature

In this paper, we report the influence of cooling processes on the yielding behavior of a medium Mn steel(MMS) with triplex microstructure, i.e. austenite(γ), ferrite(α) and as-quenched martensite(α’). After the intercritical annealing(IA) at both 725℃ and 750℃, the steel was subjected to the two cooling processes, i.e. air cooling(AC) and water quenching(WQ). It exhibits the discontinuous yielding after the AC following the IA at 750℃ while the continuous yielding after the WQ. Compared with WQ process,both the dilatometry and the microstructural examinations show that the AC process leads to lower Ms temperature, larger retained austenite(RA) fraction and less martensite, the latter is always companied with geometry necessary dislocations(GNDs) generated near the α/α’ interfaces. Considering the complexity of nanosized tri-phases in this steel, the presence of martensite with key features in the resultant specimens was systematically examined by atom probe tomography(APT) on the samples prepared by the specific target lift-out method. The APT results directly revealed the C/Mn co-segregation at the α’/αinterfaces in the AC samples but not in WQ samples. The numerical simulation results further suggest that the segregation of C and Mn at the α’/α interfaces may be due to different mechanisms. We conclude that the yielding of triplex MMS is determined by both the quantity of GNDs generated near theα/α’ interfaces, which increases with martensite fraction, and the extent of their immobilization resulting from the interfacial segregation of solute atoms when the presence of martensite is sufficient. WQ tends to suppress the discontinuous yielding of MMS since the rapid cooling may promote more martensite formed with the increasing quantity of GNDs and prevent the interfacial segregation of both C and Mn.