Damage characterization of high-strength multiphase steels

Abstract

High-strength steels show an entirely different material behavior than conventional deep-drawing steels. This fact is caused among others by the multiphase nature of their structure. The Forming Limit Diagram as the classic failure criterion in forming simulation is only partially suitable for this class of steels. An improvement of the failure prediction can be obtained by using damage mechanics. Therefore, an exact knowledge of the material-specific damage is essential for the application of various damage models. In this paper the results of microstructure analysis of a dual-phase steel and a complex-phase steel with a tensile strength of 1000 MPa are shown comparatively at various stress conditions. The objective is to characterize the basic damage mechanisms and based on this to assess the crack sensitivity of both steels. First a structural analysis with regard to non-metallic inclusions, the microstructural morphology, phase identification and the difference in microhardness between the structural phases is carried out. Subsequently, the development of the microstructure at different stress states between uniaxial and biaxial tension is examined. The damage behavior is characterized and quantified by the increase in void density, void size and the quantity of voids. The dominant damage mechanism of the dual-phase steel is the void initiation at phase boundaries, within harder structural phases and at inclusions. In contrast the complex-phase steel shows a significant growth of a smaller amount of voids which initiate only at inclusions. To quantify the damage tolerance and the susceptibility of cracking the criterion of the fracture forming limit line (FFL) is used. The respective statements are supported by results of investigations regarding the edge-crack sensitivity.