The Effect of Alloying on Mechanical Properties of Advanced High Strength Steels

Abstract

Quenching and partitioning process with incorporated incremental deformation was optimized for six high strength steels with various contents of carbon (0.4-0.6%), manganese (0.6-1.2), silicon (2-2.6%) and chromium (0.8-1.3%). The optimization was gradually done for each steel with respect to the final microstructures and properties. The effect of cooling rate, quenching and partitioning temperature on microstructure development was further investigated. Interesting combinations of mechanical properties were obtained, with tensile strength in the region of 1600-2400 MPa and ductility of 6-20%.

Keywords

• quenching and partitioning process
• retained austenite
• martensite
• incremental deformation