Effect of Heat-Treatment Schedule on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Cold-Rolled Dual-Phase Steels

Low-carbon （0.08 wt% C） steel has been subjected to three different heat treatments to obtain dual-phase steels with different microstructures. An understanding of structure-property was established through tensile tests, in conjunction with scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. The results show that the steel after intermediate quenching （IQ） consisting of fine and fibrous martensite exhibited the intermediate strength, highest elongation and the best comprehensive performance of mechanical properties, whereas the steel subjected to intercritical annealing （IA） produced a network martensite along ferrite grain boundaries, having the lowest strength and intermediate elongation. Besides, step quenching （SQ） resulted in a coarse and blocky ferrite-martensite microstructure showing the worst mechanical properties of the three different heat-treatment conditions. The strain-hardening behavior was studied through the modified Crussard- Jaoul model, indicating two stages of strain-hardening behavior for all three samples. The highest magnitude of strain- hardening ability was obtained by IQ annealing routes. The analysis of the fractured surface revealed that ferrite/martensite interfaces are the most susceptible for microvoid nucleation. However, martensite microcracks were also observed in SQ sample, and the microvoids are nucleated within the ferrite grain in IA sample as well. The variations in strength, elongation, strain-hardening behavior and fracture mechanism of the steel with different heat-treatment schedules were further discussed in relation to the microstructural features.

Hot Deformation Behavior and Processing Maps of a Medium Manganese TRIP Steel

The hot deformation behavior of a medium-Mn steel was studied in terms of hot compression flow curves in the temperature range of 850–1050 ℃ and strain rates of 0.05–10 s-1.The thermo-mechanical analysis was carried out and suggested that the microstructure during deformation was completely austenite which had high tendency for dynamic recrystallization(DRX).The flow behavior was characterized by significant flow softening at deformation temperatures of 950–1050 ℃ and lower strain rates of 0.05–5 s-1, which was attributed to heating during deformation, DRX and flow instability.A step-by-step calculating procedure for constitutive equations is proposed.The verification of the modified equations indicated that the developed constitutive models could accurately describe the flow softening behavior of studied steel.Additionally, according to the processing maps and microstructure analysis, it suggested that hot working of medium Mn steel should be carried out at 1050 ℃, and the strain rate of 0.05–10 s-1 resulted in significantly recrystallized microstructures in the in steel.The flow localization is mainly flow instability mechanism for experimental steel.

On significance of initial microstructure in governing mechanical behavior and fracture of dual-phase steels

Different initial microstructures were obtained through combination of intercritical annealing and cold-rolling. Subsequently, steels with different microstructures of ferrite-pearlite （FP）, ferrite-martensite （FM） and complete martensite （M） were intercritically annealed at 780 ℃ for 5 min and water quenched to obtain ferrite-martensite microstructure. The significance of initial microstructures on ultimate microstructure, mechanical properties, strain-hardening ability and fracture behavior in dual-phase steels has been elucidated. Initial microstructures of FP, FM and M yielded different martensite morphologies, notably chain-like network structure, fine and fibrous martensite structure, respectively. Furthermore, with increasing martensite content in the initial microstructure, the average grain size of ferrite was significantly refined from about 12.3 to 2.1 μm, which results in that the ultimate tensile strength （UTS） and yield strength were increased, total elongation remained unaffected, and uniform elongation （UE） and strain-hardening ability were increased. A comparison of mechanical properties for different initial microstructures suggested that when the initial microstructure was complete martensite, the steel had excellent mechanical properties, with UTS × UE of 122.5 J cm^-3, which was 24% greater than the conventional continuously annealed steels with ferrite-pearlite initial microstructure （98.8 J cm^-3）. The variation in tensile properties, strain-hardening ability and fracture mechanism of steels with different initial microstructures were discussed in relation to the ultimate microstructures.