Influences of Thermal Martensites and Grain Orientations on Strain-induced Martensites in High Manganese TRIP/TWIP Steels

Strain-induced martensites in high manganese TRIP/TWIP steels were investigated in the presence of thermal martensites and under the influence of austenitic grain orientation by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). Before deformation, the morphology of α′-M depended mainly on the number of variants and growing period. Regardless of martensite morphologies and deformation, the Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) orientation relationships always maintained. The 6 α′-M variants formed from a plate of ɛ-M were of 3 pairs of twins with a common axis <110>α′ parallel to the normal of {111}γ habit plane to minimize transformation strain. When α′-M could be formed only by deformation, it nucleated at the intersection of ɛ-M variants and grew mainly in thick ɛ-M plates. Thick ɛ plates promoted significantly the α′-M and weakened the influence of grain orientations. During tension, the transformation in <100>-oriented grains was observed to be slower than that in <111>-oriented grains. Deformation twins promoted ɛ-M formation slightly and had no apparent effect on α′-M. Deformation increased the number of ɛ-M variants, but reduced that of α′-M variants.