On the relationship between the twin internal structure and the work-hardening rate of TWIP steels

Received 2 July 2010; received in revised form 13 July 2010; accepted 14 July 2010. published online 20 July 2010.

Fe–Mn–C and Fe–Mn–Si–Al TWIP steels deformed under the same conditions exhibit different work-hardening rates. The present study investigates the microstructure of plastically deformed Fe–Mn–C and Fe–Mn–Si–Al samples, particularly the internal structure of the mechanically generated twins and their topology at the grain scale. Twins in the Fe–Mn–C steel are finer and full of sessile dislocations, rendering this material distinctly stronger with an improved work-hardening rate.

Keywords: TWIP steels, Work hardening, Structural properties of twins, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

a EMAT, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerp, Belgium

b Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Mécanique, Matériaux et Génie Civil (iMMC), Place Sainte Barbe 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 10 47 24 32; fax: +32 10 47 40 28.

PII: S1359-6462(10)00487-2

doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2010.07.016

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