Processing of ultra low carbon steels with mechanical properties adequate for automotive applications in the as-annealed condition

A series of ultra low carbon/Ti added steels were produced with the aim of evaluating the steelmaking route and processing conditions of slabs, in order to achieve mechanical properties on resulting annealed sheets adequate for automotive applications. Characterization of microstructure was carried out in the as-cast, deformed and annealed specimens by means of scanning and transmission electron microscope techniques. Slab specimens were hot rolled, coiled, cold rolled and annealed. From the resulting annealed sheets, evaluation of mechanical properties in terms of the percent of elongation and the normal anisotropy ratio was carried out on three experimental ultra low carbon/Ti added steels from heats of 230 t. From the resulting mechanical properties, it was noticed that the sheet steels achieved very high formability, especially for parts requiring good deep drawability, adequate for automotive applications.