New low carbon Q&P steels containing film-like intercritical ferrite

In this work, the application of the Quenching and Partitioning (Q&P) process to two low-carbon steels has led to the development of a new kind of steel microstructure formed by laths of martensite separated by films of intercritical ferrite and retained austenite. The chemical compositions of the steels have been specially designed for this process, containing 3.5 wt.% Mn to retard the formation of bainite and combinations of Si and Al to avoid cementite precipitation. The microstructural changes occurring during the application of the heat treatments are discussed in terms of the current knowledge of the Q&P process and the experimental observations. A significant amount of retained austenite has been obtained in both steels after application of appropriate heat treatments, especially in the steel alloyed with higher amount of Si, in which the volume fraction of retained austenite reached values up to 0.19. Tensile tests in some selected specimens of both materials have shown outstanding combinations of strength and ductility, indicating that the designed Q&P steels are a promising candidate for the development of a new generation of advanced high strength steels.