Microstructure and Cu-precipitation Engineering in Warm-rolled Medium-Mn Steel Via Short-time Intercritical Annealing and Aging
Mining Metallurgy & Exploration, vol. 43, pp. 3103–3118
Abstract
Abstract Warm-rolled medium-Mn steels (MMnS) are attractive for automotive industry and energy applications, due to their balanced mechanical and corrosion properties. The present study investigated how newly-designed process routes with short post-warm-rolling heat treatments can further tune the microstructure and mechanical properties of an Fe-7Mn-0.05 C-1.5Al-1.5Si-1.5Ni-1.5Cu (wt%) steel. Warm-rolled MMnS (WarmR) was subjected to three heat treatment routes: intercritical annealing (IA) at 700 °C for 1 min (WRA), aging at 500 °C for 5 min (WRAg), and a combined IA + aging process (WRAA). The material under WarmR condition is characterized by a heavily deformed ferrite matrix and refined, mechanically stabilized austenite, providing high yield strength (YS: 926.2 ± 17.8 MPa) but low ductility (TE of 6 ± 1.2%) due to a suppressed transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) effect. In the material under WRAg condition, high density of nano-sized Cu precipitates form within the ferrite, further increasing the yield strength (YS: 1179 ± 17.6 MPa) but not ductility (TE 5.7 ± 1.5%). The WRA process promotes the reactivation of the TRIP effect and enhances ductility (TE of 14.5 ± 2.6%), albeit at the expense of strength (YS:743.7 ± 25.1 MPa). In contrast, the combined route (WRAA) allows to form nano-sized Cu precipitates with a moderate volume fraction while maintaining an active TRIP effect, thereby resulting in superior strength-ductility balance (YS: 938 ± 11.2 MPa and TE of 16.7 ± 0.9%). The present study provides a mechanistic understanding, connecting processing condition, micro/nanostructure evolution and mechanical properties, thereby, offering an effective pathway for tuning strength-ductility synergy in warm-rolled medium-Mn steels.
Authors 10
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Affiliation as printed
Department for Cutting and Joining Manufacturing Processes , Institute for Production Technologies and Logistics , University of Kassel , Kurt-Wolters-Str. 3 , Kassel , Hesse 34125 , Germany
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University of Kassel · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Granularity of Structural Information in Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials Engineering (IfW), University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
The Steel Institute (IEHK), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
The Steel Institute (IEHK), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Department for Cutting and Joining Manufacturing Processes, Institute for Production Technologies and Logistics, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Granularity of Structural Information in Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials Engineering (IfW), University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
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University of Kassel · Max-Planck-Institut für Nachhaltige Materialien
Affiliation as printed
Department of Granularity of Structural Information in Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials Engineering (IfW), University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials, Düsseldorf, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Metallic Materials, Institute of Materials Engineering (IfW), University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Department for Cutting and Joining Manufacturing Processes, Institute for Production Technologies and Logistics, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
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University of Kassel · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
Department of Granularity of Structural Information in Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials Engineering (IfW), University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
The Steel Institute (IEHK), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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