Experimental study on the forming characteristics of 1.5 GPa ultrahigh-strength dual-phase steel

The DP1500 steel series successfully produced by Baosteel is a marked improvement over the cold-rolled hot-dip galvanized dual-phase steel series.Sufficient parameter data related to forming characteristics are needed for the successful application of dual-phase steel series in engineering structures.Therefore,differences in the mech-anical properties,forming limit,hole expansion ratio,and stretch bend limit of the 1.5 GPa ultrahigh-strength steel,including DP1500,QP1500,and MS1500,have been systematically studied.Results show that the DP1500 exhibits good plastic deformation performance and approximately 5% uniform elongation,and its true major strain minimum on the forming limit curve(FLC_(0)) value is approximately 0.083,which is higher and lower than the FLC_(0) values of MS1500 and QP1500 of the same strength grade,respectively.DP1500 also exhibits good flanging and pore expansion capabilities and superior performance to QP1500 and MS1500.The minimum radius-to-thickness(R/T) ratio(1.4) of DP1500 in the 90° bend tests transverse to the rolling direction is between the R/T ratios of MS1500 and the QP1500.Overall,the formability performance of DP1500 is between that of MS1500 and QP1500.Its excellent crash energy absorption and formability performance render it a suitable structural component,and it has been successfully tested and verified on a typical complex ultrahigh-strength steel skeleton structure.

Influence of two distinct quenching end-temperatures on phase development and mechanical properties in QP980 steel

Bainite microstructures have become increasingly attractive for the development of advanced high-strength steel owing to their balanced strength-plasticity properties.In this study, the final microstructure and mechanical properties of a quenching and partitioning(QP) steel sample after two distinct QP processes were analyzed.The results reveal that martensite transformation after quenching resulted in a lathed morphology with higher yield strength and hole expansion ratio.In contrast, bainite transformation after quenching resulted in the formation of a blocky microstructure composed of bainitic ferrite retained austenite and nanoscale precipitates during the subsequent phase transformation at a higher temperature.This kind of final microstructure is beneficial to the elongation of QP steel but detrimental to the hole expansion ratio.

Development of a hot-rolled 980 MPa advanced high-strength steel with excellent flangeability and bendability

A new 980 MPa advanced high-strength steel(AHSS) with excellent bendability and flangeability has been studied and industrially produced, typical of tensile strength, fractured elongation, and hole expansion ratio(HER) exceeding 980 MPa, 10%,and 30%,respectively.The 90° V-type bending perpendicular to the rolling direction can satisfy the R/t=1.0 requirement, indicating excellent bendability.Systematic evaluations of industrial trial-produced 980 MPa hot-rolled AHSS have been conducted, including microstructure, tensile properties in three directions, HER,bendability, fatigue limit strength, and forming limit.The microstructure of the newly developed 980 MPa AHSS primarily consists of fine bainite and a small amount of martensite-austenite constituent.The practical yield and tensile strength are higher than 800 and 980 MPa, respectively, with typical elongation of 13% and HER of around 40%.The good combination of the newly developed 980 MPa AHSS is primarily attributed to the fine bainitic microstructure, resulting in excellent flangeability and bendability.In addition, the newly developed 980 MPa AHSS has good fatigue and forming properties, making it suitable for the production of chassis and suspension components.

Evaluation of factors affecting the edge formability of two hot rolled multiphase steels

In this study, the effect of various factors on the hole expansion ratio and hence on the edge formability of two hot rolled multiphase steels, one with a ferrite–martensite microstructure and the other with a ferrite-bainite microstructure, was investigated through systematic microstructural and mechanical characterization. The study revealed that the microstructure of the steels, which determines their strain hardening capacity and fracture resistance, is the principal factor controlling edge formability. The influence of other factors such as tensile strength, ductility, anisotropy, and thickness, though present, are secondary. A critical evaluation of the available empirical models for hole expansion ratio prediction is also presented.

The relevance of Niobium microalloying in dual phase steels with optimized mechanical properties

Dual phase steel is nowadays widely applied in automotive construction as hot rolled and cold rolled HDG grades.The strength and elongation of DP steels are principally determined by the ratio of ferrite and marteniste in the microstructure.However,for practical forming in the press shop additional properties are important such as bendability and hole expansion ratio.These characteristics relate to the morphology and distribution of the phases in the microstructure.Niobium microalloying can influence not only the strength of DP steels but also particularly the phase morphology and homogeneity leading to significant improvement of the mechanical properties.The paper will show processing strategies involving Nb microalloying in DP steel production.The metallurgical mechanisms induced by Nb are discussed.This is also related to damage mechanisms occurring in DP steel during forming or application.Particularly the issue of delayed fracturing in ultra high strength DP steel will be addressed.

Development and evaluation of a hot-rolled 780 MPa steel sheet with an ultra-high expansion ratio

This paper explores the development of a 780 MPa hot-rolled high-strength steel with an ultra-high hole expansion ratio(HER) by using a nanoprecipitation-controlled technology.Systematic analysis and evaluation of an industrially produced steel sheet have been performed to investigate the microstructure, nanoprecipitates, tensile properties, HER,bendability, and forming limit diagram.The newly developed 780 MPa hot-rolled high-strength steel sheet is composed of a fully ferritic microstructure of approximately 5 μm with precipitates of approximately 4-5 nm in ferrite grain interiors.The yield strength and tensile strength can reach above 700 and 780 MPa, respectively.Moreover, the fractured elongation is higher than 19% in the transversal direction, and the average HER exceeds 70%.Furthermore, the newly developed 780 MPa high-strength steel has good bendability reaching R/t=0.2 at 90°.Compared with the conventional 780 MPa high-strength steel, the newly developed 780 MPa high-strength steel exhibits superior forming ability, which is suitable for the production of complex components.High-cycle fatigue indicates that the fatigue limit of the newly developed high-strength steel is 430 MPa under a stress ratio of r=-1,indicating good fatigue properties.The excellent combined mechanical properties of the newly developed 780 MPa high-strength steel are attributed to the grain-refined ferritic microstructure with nanoprecipitates in ferrite grain interiors.

On the Factors Influencing the High Stretch-Flangeability of a Low-Density 1180 MPa Fe-Mn-Al-C-Nbδ-QP Steel

Low-densityδ-quenching and partitioning(δ-QP)steels with excellent strength and ductility have been recently developed.However,there are still rare reports on the formability of δ-QP steels,which are critical for satisfying the manufacture of structural parts during the application in automotive industry.In the present work,an 1180 MPa Fe–Mn–Al–C–Nbδ-QP steel with a high ductility was adopted for the stretch–flangeability study.Theδ-QP steel was developed by separated quenching and partitioning processes.A good hole expansion ratio(HER)of 34.9±0.9%was obtained in the quenched steel,but it has been further increased to 52.2%by the tempering treatment.The improved stretch–flangeability was attributed to the enhanced austenite stability and deformation uniformity.On the one hand,the stability of austenite was increased by carbon partitioning during tempering,which reduced crack possibility via the suppression of the fresh martensite formation.On the other hand,the tempering treatment released the internal stress caused by martensitic transformation and reduced the difference in strength among different phases,resulting in an increase in the resistance to crack initiation and propagation.

Does friction contribute to formability improvement using servo press?

Servo press forming machines are advanced forming systems that are capable of imparting interrupted punch motion,resulting in enhanced room temperature formability.The exact mechanism of the formability improvement is not yet established.The contribution of interrupted motion in the ductility improvement has been studied through stress relaxation phenomena in uniaxial tensile(UT)tests.However,the reason for improved formability observed when employing servo press is complicated due to the additional contribution from frictional effects.In the present work,an attempt is made to decouple the friction effect on formability improvement numerically.The improved formability is studied using a hole expansion test(HET).The limit of forming during hole expansion is modeled using the Hosford–Coulomb(HC)damage criteria,which is implemented as a user subroutine in a commercial explicit finite element(FE)software.Only the contribution of stress relaxation is accounted for in the evolution of the damage variable during interrupted loading.Therefore,the difference between simulation and experimental hole expansion ratio(HER)can be used to decouple the friction effect from the overall formability improvement during hole expansion.The improvement in HER due to stress relaxation and friction effect is different.The study showed that the model effectively captures the hole expansion deformation process in both monotonic and interrupted loading conditions.Compared to stress relaxation,friction effect played a major role during interrupted HET.

Advanced HSLA Steels for Automotive Use

Characteristic HSLA steels for automotive use are introduced in which both of precipitation and microstructure is controlled to obtain suitable mechanical properties.For outer panels such as fender,the combination of low yield strength,high tensile strength and deep-drawability were realized by controlling the distribution of NbC and precipitation free zone.The other steel,developed for chassis parts such as lower arm,utilizes extremely fine interphase precipitation to obtain high yield strength and excellent hole expansionability.Both steels have contributed to the reduction of weight in car body.

Microstructure, property and deformation and fracture behavior of 800 MPa complex phase steel with different coiling temperatures

The microstructure characteristics and properties(especially hole expansion property)of 800 MPa hot-rolled complex phase steel with different coiling temperatures were studied.The microstructure consisted of polygonal ferrite and precipitates when the steel was coiled at 550℃,and when the steel was coiled between 460–520℃,the microstructure was composed of granular bainite and martensite and austenite(M/A)islands.The morphology of the crack was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy,and the in situ scanning electron microscope tensile test was used to find out the fracture mechanism and deformation behavior of the steel with different coiling temperatures.When the steel was coiled at 550℃,the cracks initiated at the ferrite grain boundary and propagated through the grains or along the grain boundaries.When the steel was coiled at 520℃,the cracks first initiated at the junction of ferrite and M/A island and then propagated through the grains.The steel coiled at 520℃ has quite good mechanical properties and relatively high hole expansion ratio.

Effect of Isothermal Annealing on Nano Ti-Carbides Precipitation

Transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the effect of isothermal holding temperature and time on the nano Ti-precipitates.A holding temperature was varied systematically from 400℃ to 1200℃.The isothermal holding was continued for 30s,300s and 900s,respectively.Nano carbides of (Ti,Nb)C were precipitated significantly at 900℃.The size of carbides was approximately 10nm at 30s holding and increased to 20～30nm at 900s holding.Isothermal holding at 1000℃ showed the increased amount of carbides larger than 100nm.At 800℃,nano (Ti,Nb)C was not observed at 30s and it was examined at 300s.The size of nano (Ti,Nb)C was smaller than that of 900℃.As the isothermal temperature decreased to 700 ℃,the nano (Ti,Nb)C was only seen at 900s holding and the size of carbides was smaller than 10nm.Nano (Ti,Nb)C was disappeared at isothermal holding below 600℃.The kinetics of nano (Ti,Nb)C precipitation were studied as a function of isothermal holding temperature and time,respectively,using the precipitate growth equations.

Effects of Vertical Angle of Conical Punch on Stretch Flangeability of High Strength Steel

To clarify the effects of the vertical angle of a conical punch on stretch flangeability, hole expansion forming tests were conducted. Test results showed that the hole expansion ratio becomes larger as the vertical angle decreases.Results also showed that the fracture strain at the fracture location on the hole edge was constant and independent of the vertical angle. This is because the hole expansion ratio was controlled not only by the fracture strain, which is independent of the vertical angle, but also by deformation uniformity along the hole edge. From the result of numerical analyses, it was determined that deformation uniformity depends on the gradient of circumferential stress along the radius direction. When the vertical angle is sharp, the circumferential stress showed a steep decline and the deformation localization was suppressed. Consequently, the hole edge deformed more uniformly and the hole expansion ratio became larger. It is concluded that in order to improve stretch flangeability of high strength steel, it is important to uniformly deform the hole edge by applying a conical punch with a sharp vertical angle.