Microstructural evolution during the progressive transformation-induced plasticity effect in a Fe-0.1C-5Mn medium manganese steel

The microstructural evolution of a cold-rolled and intercritical annealed medium-Mn steel (Fe-0.10C-5Mn) was investigated during uniaxial tensile testing. In-situ observations under scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis were conducted to characterize the progressive transformation-induced plasticity process and associated fracture initiation mechanisms. These findings were discussed with the local strain measurements via digital image correlation. The results indicated that L & uuml;ders band formation in the steel was limited to 1.5% strain, which was mainly due to the early-stage martensitic phase transformation of a very small amount of the less stable large-sized retained austenite (RA), which led to localized stress concentrations and strain hardening and further retardation of yielding. The small-sized RA exhibited high stability and progressively transformed into martensite and contributed to a stably extended Portevin-Le Chatelier effect. The volume fraction of RA gradually decreased from 26.8% to 8.2% prior to fracture. In the late deformation stage, fracture initiation primarily occurred at the austenite/martensite and ferrite/martensite interfaces and the ferrite phase.