Characteristics of retained austenite in TRIP steels with bainitic ferrite matrix

Abstract

Heat treatment process for producing cold rolled transformation induced plasticity-aided (TRIP-aided) steels with bainitic ferrite matrix was adopted. Characteristics of retained austenite (RA) in such TRIP steels were investigated. SEM and OM determination results showed that the stable austenite retained at room temperature were mainly located between laths and some of them inside the coarse ferrite. The grains were uniformly distributed in heat treated steel matrix and the regularly dispersed RA represented to be triangular morphology. XRD analysis indicated that RA content in matrix was not less than 10%, and TEM testified that RA inside the matrix were formed at the prior austenite boundaries and represented to be single or twin crystals. The ductile fracture originated from the boundaries of martensite islands from RA and ferrite. The cracks propagated along grain boundaries and some passed through the large ferrite grains and induced transgranular fracture.