Wenwen Song

Control of Strain Hardening Behavior in High-Mn Austenitic Steels

Austenitic high-Mn steels with Mn contents between approximately 15 and 30 wt% gain much interest because of their excellent mechanical properties and the option for adjusting strain hardening behavior due to different deformation mechanisms. 2D and 3D composition-dependent stacking fault energy (SFE) maps indicate the effect of chemical composition and temperature on SFE and consequently on the deformation mechanisms. Three steels with different chemical compositions and the same or different SFE are characterized in quasi-static tensile tests. The control parameters of strain hardening behavior in the high-Mn austenitic steels are described, and consequences for future developments are discussed.

Investigation of the Microstructure Evolution in a Fe-17Mn-1.5Al-0.3C Steel via In Situ Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction during a Tensile Test

The quantitative characterization of the microstructure evolution in high-Mn steel during deformation is of great importance to understanding its strain-hardening behavior. In the current study, in situ high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction was employed to characterize the microstructure evolution in a Fe-17Mn-1.5Al-0.3C steel during a tensile test. The microstructure at different engineering strain levels—in terms of ε-martensite and α’-martensite volume fractions, the stacking fault probability, and the twin fault probability—was analyzed by the Rietveld refinement method. The Fe-17Mn-1.5Al-0.3C steel exhibits a high ultimate tensile strength with a superior uniform elongation and a high strain-hardening rate. The remaining high strain-hardening rate at the strain level about 0.025 to 0.35 results from ε-martensite dominant transformation-induced-plasticity (TRIP) effect. The increase in the strain-hardening rate at the strain level around 0.35 to 0.43 is attributed to the synergetic α’-martensite dominant TRIP and twinning-induced-plasticity (TWIP) effects. An evaluation of the stacking fault energy (SFE) of the Fe-17Mn-1.5Al-0.3C steel by the synchrotron measurements shows good agreement with the thermodynamic calculation of the SFE.