Effect of higher heating rate during continuous annealing on microstructure and mechanical properties of cold-rolled 590 MPa dual-phase steel

Abstract

In this presentation, the effect of higher heating rate in continuous annealing on microstructure and mechanical properties of a cold-rolled 590 MPa ferrite-martensite dual-phase steel were investigated by using microstructural observation and mechanical property measurement. The results show that compared with the conventional continuous annealed steels heated at a rate of 5 ^∘C/s (CA), the average ferrite grain sizes heated at a higher rate (300 ^∘C/s, HRA) was obviously refined from 15.6 μm to 5.3 μm. The morphology of martensite is observed to shift from network along ferrite grain boundaries to uniformly dispersed in the final DP590 microstructure. Twinned substructure of martensite can be found when heated at a higher heating rate in continuous annealing. EBSD orientation maps show that the fraction of low angle grain boundary is increased in HRA sample compared to CA sample. The HRA sample has excellent mechanical properties when compared to the CA sample. The variations of strength, elongation, strain hardening behavior and fracture mechanism of the this DP590 steel with different heating routine were further discussed in relation to microstructural features.