Microstructure and properties of 1300-MPa grade Nb microalloying DH steel

In this study, ultra-high-strength DH steels with different phase compositions were designed, their tensile strengths were greater than 1300 MPa, and the multiphase microstructures contained ferrite, martensite, retained austenite, and small amounts of carbides. The effects of different phase compositions on the mechanical properties and strain hardening behaviors of the ultra-high-strength DH steels were compared, and the mechanism of the retained austenite in the ultra-high-strength DH steels was comprehensively studied. The results show that with the increase in the volume fraction of martensite and retained austenite and decrease in the ferrite volume fraction, the yield strength and tensile strength increase, whereas, the elongation rate first increase and then decrease. The decrease in the soft-phase ferrite volume fraction and increase in the volume fraction of the hard martensite phase led to an increase in yield strength and tensile strength. Compared with tempered martensite, quenched martensite could improve the strength more significantly. The retained austenite transformed in the tensile process was the main cause of the change in elongation. The remarkable banded structure in the microstructure will cause a significant decrease in elongation after necking. The analysis of the strain hardening behavior show that the strain hardening rate decrease with the increase in the true strain. When the true strain was greater than 2%, the strain hardening rate of the steels followed the order: DH1 > DH2 > DH3; this trend was mainly influenced by the ferrite volume fraction. The strain hardening rate of DH2 was higher than those of DH1 and DH3 when the true strain was greater than 5.73%, which was mainly related to the more significant transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) effect in the DH2. In addition to the retained austenite volume fraction, the carbon content in the retained austenite also had a significant effect on the TRIP effect. The high proportion of the hard-phase martensite, appropriate proportion of the soft-ductile-phase ferrite, and retained austenite contributed to the DH2 steel having the greatest tensile strength and elongation (13.17 GPa·%); moreover, the yield strength was 880 MPa, tensile strength was 1497 MPa, uniform elongation was 6.71%, total elongation was 8.8%, elongation after necking was 2.09%, and yield ratio was 0.59.