Effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure and properties of the 25Mn-3Si-3Al TWIP steel

Microstructures and mechanical properties of the 25Mn twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steel at different annealing temperatures were investigated. The results indicated that when the annealing temperature was 1000°C, the 25Mn steel showed excellent comprehensive mechanical properties, the tensile strength was about 640 MPa, the yield strength was higher than 255 MPa, and the elongation was above 82%. The microstructure was analyzed by optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Before deformation the microstructure was composed of austenitic matrix and annealing twins at room temperature; at the same time, a significant amount of annealing twins and stacking faults were observed by TEM. Mechanical twins played a dominant role in deformation and as a result the mechanical properties were found to be excellent.