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Isothermal Holding Treatment of a Transformation-Induced Plasticity Steel for Obtaining Ultrahigh Strength and High Plasticity

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Abstract

The determining significance of isothermal holding on microstructure and mechanical properties of a transformation-induced plasticity steel (Fe-1.67Mn-1.32Al-0.55Si-0.47C) was studied with multiple techniques including x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The objective was to design an optimal isothermal holding treatment for medium-carbon TRIP steels with ultrahigh strength and high elongation. A critical analysis of the experimental observations is presented. After isothermal holding treatment, the microstructure mainly consisted of ferrite, bainite, retained austenite, and a small amount of martensite-austenite island. The volume fraction of RA first increased from 28 to 32% with the increase of temperature from 380 to 420 °C, and then decreased dramatically to a minimum value of 23% with further increasing temperature to 450 °C. However, carbon content in RA decreased from 1.42 to 1.18% with the increase of temperature. A tensile strength of 1250 MPa and a maximum elongation of 55% were obtained at 420 °C because of the optimal combination of RA and carbon content. The highest yield strength of 660 MPa was obtained at 380 °C and the highest tensile strength of 1480 MPa was obtained at 450 °C, respectively. Less stable RA transformed to martensite, while RA with a high stability was retained during tensile straining.

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The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the data also forms part of an ongoing study.

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Acknowledgments

This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. 51922026, 51574079), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. N2002013, N2002005) and the 111 Project (No. B20029). The authors at NEU gratefully acknowledge collaboration with Professor R.D.K. Misra.

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  1. X. X. Dong and S. Liu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Material Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    X. X. Dong, S. Liu & N. Jia

  2. The State Key Lab of Rolling and Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, People’s Republic of China

    Y. F. Shen

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Dong, X.X., Liu, S., Shen, Y.F. et al. Isothermal Holding Treatment of a Transformation-Induced Plasticity Steel for Obtaining Ultrahigh Strength and High Plasticity. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 30, 4504–4517 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-021-05728-x

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