Effect of caliber rolling temperature on the deformation behavior and mechanical properties of dual-phase medium Mn steel

Dual-phase medium manganese steel (MMS) was caliber rolled at 800, 900 and 1000 degrees C, respectively, in order to clarify the deformation behavior and mechanical properties of warm deformed MMS. Herein, the microstructure evolution, tensile behavior and fracture characteristics exhibit obvious dependence on the caliber rolling temperature. The warm rolled steel contains martensite and austenite phases with heterogeneous grains including coarse fiber grains (CFG) and ultrafine equiaxed grains (UFG), which shows different microstructural stability. With the increase of rolling temperature, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) is more obvious, corresponding with the increasing percent of UFG, as well as the decreasing percent of CFG and martensite volume fraction. Meanwhile, high deformation temperature also leads to high austenite stability and the decreasing Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) effect. The strength, strain hardening behavior and total elongation are gradually increased with the decrease of rolling temperature, which is attributed to severe strain partitioning and unique laminated structure in the caliber rolled MMS with low rolling temperature. Moreover, the warm rolled MMS reveals obvious ductile-ductile transition behavior in the temperature range from 25 degrees C to -60 degrees C. In addition, the low caliber rolling temperature also results into high impact energy, which is attributed to the high volume fraction of CFG.