Study on mechanical properties and microstructure of DP590 steel with different annealing process

Annealing process is critical to mechanical properties and microstructure of DP steel. For DP steel with strength grade of 590MPa, experiments with different combinations of intercritical annealing temperature and over-aging temperature were carried out during annealing. The tensile tests of the final products and nanohardness tests of different phases were made, and the microstructures were analyzed. The results indicated that higher intercritical annealing temperature was favorable to higher volume fraction of martensite and lower nanohardness of martensite with lower C density. The ultimate tensile strength increased monotonously with the volume fraction of martensite increasing. Higher over aging temperature would make martensite islands be partially resolved and carbides precipitate, which made lower volume fraction of martensite, and resulted in lower nanohardness of martensite. The revealed rules could provide important guide to control material properties of DP steel by manipulating annealing process.

The Effects of Intercritical Annealing Temperature and Initial Microstructure on the Stability of Retained Austenite in a 0.1C-6Mn Steel

The effects of the intercritical annealing temperature and initial microstructure on the stability of retained austenite were investigated for a 0.1C-6Mn (wt-%) steel. Medium-Mn transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steels exhibit a strong dependence of their mechanical properties on the variation of intercritical annealing temperature. This behavior is strongly linked to the amount and stability of the retained austenite. Thus, interrupted tensile tests were used to examine the effect of annealing temperature on the stabilization of the retained austenite. Detailed microstructural investigations were employed to elaborate the effects of its chemical and mechanical stabilization. Furthermore, the final microstructure was varied by applying the batch annealing step to an initial non-deformed and deformed microstructure respectively. Retained austenite stability along with resulting mechanical properties of the investigated medium-Mn TRIP steel was significantly influenced as the amount and morphology of the respective phases altered as a consequence of both initial microstructure and applied intercritical annealing temperature.