Continuous cooling transformation diagrams and properties of micro-alloyed TRIP steels

Continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagrams and properties of four kinds of low-silicon C–Mn–Si–Al transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steels with different carbon contents, with or without microalloy element Ti/V, as well as a reference TRIP steel containing 1.19 wt.% Si were studied. The CCT diagrams exhibited that as the carbon equivalent (CE) increased, it caused a shift of the ferrite forming and pearlite forming temperatures to the right side and the bainite forming and martensite forming to the lower temperatures of the diagram. The microstructural evolution obtained from the dilatometry samples revealed that the highest cooling rates produced fully martensitic microstructure in all cases except the reference TRIP steel. As the cooling rate decreased, more ferrite and bainite were formed. The increase of CE caused the increase of the amount of martesite in the microstructure. Tensile test and Erichsen test of the investigated steels showed an excellent mechanical strength and ductility combination, with tensile strength between 800 and 1000 MPa, total elongation of around 20%, and a quite good formability with a dome height of about 10 mm in all cases.