Effects of interphase TiC precipitates on tensile properties and dislocation structures in a dual phase steel

Abstract

In this work, titanium-free and titanium carbide-strengthened dual-phase steels were studied. While both had the same base composition of Fe–0.1C–1.5Mn–0.5Si–0.6Cr (wt%), the latter included a 0.1 wt% Ti addition for interphase precipitation. Utilizing the Gleeble thermal simulations, both two dual-phase steels were produced with the same ferrite grain size and the same ferrite/martensite volume fractions of 0.7 and 0.3, respectively. Their corresponding microstructures (including deformed structures) and mechanical properties were examined. The results indicate that the titanium carbide-strengthened dual-phase steel possesses an excellent combination of the strengthened ferrite and the weakened martensite, which brings about increased yield and tensile strengths without sacrificing total elongation. © 2016