Effect of Rolling Temperature on the Structural Refinement and Mechanical Properties of Dual-Phase Heterostructured Low-Carbon Steel

Warm rolling at temperatures ranging from 25 degrees C to 500 degrees C was conducted on the dual-phase heterostructured low-carbon steel to investigate the effect of deformation temperature on the structural refinement and mechanical properties. Defying our intuition, the grain size and strength of the rolled steels do not deteriorate with the increase in deformation temperature. Warm rolling at 300 degrees C produces a much finer lamellar structure and higher strength than steels rolled at both room temperature and elevated temperature. It is supposed that the enhanced interactions between carbon atoms and defects (interfaces and dislocations) at 300 degrees C promote dislocation accumulation and stabilize the nanostructure, thus helping with producing an extremely finer structure and higher strength than other temperatures.