Analysis of microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrafine grained low carbon steel

Abstract

A novel design scheme of hot stamping, quenching and partitioning process was conducted in a quenchable boron steel to obtain the nanometric duplex microstructure comprising ultrafine retained austenite and martensite. It is shown that the materials possess excellent mechanical properties and the ductility can be further improved without compromising the strength. The newly treated steel shows excellent mechanical properties and the total elongation of the steel increases from 6.6% to 14.8% compared with that of hot stamped and quenched steel. Therefore, this kind of steel has become another group of advanced high-strength steels. The microstructure which is mainly responsible for such excellent mechanical properties was investigated.

Keywords

hot stamping / quenching and partitioning (Q&P) / retained austenite / martensite / grain refinement

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