Flash annealing yields a strong and ductile medium Mn steel with heterogeneous microstructure. (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wan, Xinhao; Liu, Geng; Yang, Zhigang; Chen, Hao
• Is Part Of: Scripta materialia. Number 198(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: Medium Mn steel -- Flash annealing -- Retained austenite -- Heterogeneous microstructure; Materials -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Metalen; Legeringen; Materiaalkunde; Metals, metalworking and machinery industries; Metals; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2021.113819
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6462

Abstract

Abstract: Austenite reversion treatment (ART) is usually used to obtain retained austenite (RA) in medium Mn steel (MMS). In this contribution, we proposed a flash-annealing strategy to produce MMS, which allows us to efficiently obtain a large amount of RA in MMS via the "explosive" nucleation of austenite and the fast C partitioning. Furthermore, flash-annealing can also render a heterogeneous ferritic matrix consisting of recrystallized/non-recrystallized ferrite grains, leading to heterogeneous deformation-induced hardening. As compared to the conventional ART processed MMS, the unique heterogeneous microstructure in the flash-annealed MMS leads to a higher yield and ultimate tensile strength but a marginal ductility loss. Flash-annealing provides an alternative route to tailor microstructure and optimize the mechanical performance of steels. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract