Effect of phase interface on stretch-flangeability of metastable ferrous medium-entropy alloys

The demand for high-strength, lightweight structural materials has been increasing; however, alloys with high mechanical performance often have limitations such as unfavorable bendability and stretch-flangeability. In terms of stretch-flangeability, an unexpected crack occurring on the trim line during sheet metal forming has recently been considered as an issue of concern by the industry and academia, but its cause and solution have not been determined yet. This study investigated the effect of the phase interface generated by deformation-induced martensitic transformation on the stretch-flangeability of metastable ferrous medium-entropy alloys. We prepared three alloys that exhibited different transformation-induced plasticity behaviors by controlling their grain sizes and chemical compositions. It was observed that the transformation activity, which is dependent on the microstructure and phase stability, considerably affects the hole expansion ratio obtained from the hole expansion test. Microstructural analyses revealed that deformation-induced martensite formed a layered structure and the phase interface between the face-centered cubic (FCC) and body-centered cubic (BCC) phases served as a site vulnerable to cracking during stretch-flanging. The decreased transformation activity by grain refinement resulted in an increase in the hole expansion ratio (HER) from 8.6% to 28.4%. On the other hand, when the phase stability is low enough to form athermal martensite during quenching, most of the FCC grains are easily transformed into BCC phase and the phase interface is also decreased during stretch-flanging, resulting in the HER of 22.9%. Therefore, the increment of phase interfaces leads to lower stretch-flangeability. This study sheds lights on expanding the applicability of TRIP-utilized materials to industry by suggesting ways to improve stretch-flangeability.