Development of a new ultrafine grained dual phase steel and examination of the effect of grain size on tensile deformation behavior

Ultrafine grained dual phase (DP) steels are among the newest grades of DP steels that incorporate the uniform distribution of fine martensite particles (in the order of 1-2 μm) within a ferrite matrix. These new grades of steels have been developed in response to the world׳s demand for decreasing the fuel consumption in automobiles by increasing the strength to weight ratio. In the present research, a new kind of ultrafine grained DP (UFG-DP) steel with an average grain size of about 2 μm as well as a coarse grained DP (CG-DP) steel with an average grain size of about 5.4 μm was produced by consecutive intercritical annealing and cold rolling of low carbon AISI 8620 steel. The martensite volume fraction for both microstructures was the same and about 50 percent. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) microstructural examination and room temperature tensile deformation analyses were performed on both UFG-DP and CG-DP steels and their deformation behavior in terms of strength, elongation and strain hardening was studied and compared. Room-temperature uniaxial tensile tests revealed that for a given martensite volume fraction, yield and tensile strengths were not very sensitive to martensite morphology. However, uniform and total elongation values were noticeably affected by refining martensite particles. The higher plasticity of fine martensite particles as well as the more uniform strain distribution within the UFG-DP microstructure resulted in higher strain hardenability and, finally, the higher ductility of the UFG-DP steel.