Controlling the mechanical properties of carbon steel by thermomechanical treatment

Abstract

The effect of thermomechanical processing and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of low carbon steel was studied. It was revealed that the dual phase ferritic-martensitic microstructure shows a good combination of tensile strength and ductility along with superior work hardening response. On the other hand, the bimodal-sized structure containing ultrafine grained (UFG) and micron-sized ferrite phase can be easily produced by cold rolling and annealing of the dual phase starting microstructure. This steel showed high yield stress, tensile strength, and ductility, but poor work hardening ability. The full annealed ferritic-pearlitic sheet with banded morphology exhibited low strength and high total elongation with the appearance of the yield point phenomenon. The martensitic steels, however, had high tensile strength and low ductility. By comparing the tensile properties of these steels, it was shown that it is possible to control the mechanical properties of low carbon steel by simple processing routes.