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Fracture toughness of high-alloy austenitic-martensitic TRIP steels after Q&P processing

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Abstract

The recently developed austenitic-martensitic TRIP cast steel Fe–14Cr–3Ni–3Mn–0.4Si–0.11N–0.15C was subjected to different Quenching & Partitioning (Q&P) treatments in order to achieve a variation of the microstructural and mechanical properties. Subsequently, the fracture properties of three material variants were studied by means of tensile tests and fracture mechanical 3-point-bending tests to determine J–\(\Delta a\) fracture resistance curves. Due to Q&P treatment, the steel achieved considerable strength and ductility values (UTS of about 1500 MPa with a total elongation of almost 30%) which qualify it for the 3rd generation of AHSS. The fracture toughness behavior was significantly influenced by the initial \(\upalpha ^\prime \)-martensite content as well as by the austenite stability, which could be adjusted by varying the Q&P parameters. If the austenite stability was low, the formation of deformation-induced \(\upalpha ^\prime \)-martensite became possible. This TRIP effect is known to be beneficial for fracture toughness of austenitic steels. However, the experimental results suggest that there was a contrary effect of embrittlement due to metastable austenite which undergoes martensitic transformation already in the early stages of deformation. Therefore, the Q&P parameters have to be carefully chosen in order to achieve a remarkable combination of strength, ductility and fracture toughness of the investigated high-alloy austenitic-martensitic TRIP steel.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation or Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), and was created as part of the Collaborative Research Center TRIP-Matrix-Composites (SFB 799), subproject B2. Furthermore, we would like to thank Mr. R. Prang for his excellent sample preparation preceding the microstructural investigations and Mr. S. Henschel and Mrs. E.-M. Kandler for their help in the fracture surface investigations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Materials Engineering, Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 5, 09599, Freiberg, Germany

    R. Eckner & L. Krüger

  2. Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Materials Science, Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 5, 09599, Freiberg, Germany

    C. Ullrich

  3. Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Institute of Iron and Steel Technology, Leipziger Str. 34, 09599, Freiberg, Germany

    M. Wendler & O. Volkova

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  1. R. Eckner
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  2. L. Krüger
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  4. M. Wendler
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  5. O. Volkova
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Correspondence to R. Eckner.

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Eckner, R., Krüger, L., Ullrich, C. et al. Fracture toughness of high-alloy austenitic-martensitic TRIP steels after Q&P processing. Int J Fract 215, 139–151 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10704-018-0332-5

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