Characterization of the Trace Phosphorus Segregation and Mechanical Properties of Dual-Phase Steels

The segregation behavior of trace amount of phosphorus(P) and the mechanical properties of dual-phase(DP) steels have been systematically studied. The microstructure of DP steels is mainly composed of martensite, ferrite and nanoscale carbides.For the DP steels with diff erent trace amounts of P(≤ 0.015 wt%), P has almost no effect on the mechanical properties. Atom probe technology(APT) analyses confirm that P segregation was only found at the precipitate/matrix interface. Moreover,the precipitates of(Ti, Mo) C are widely distributed in the ferrite, martensite and ferrite/martensite interface regions. The special segregation feature of P would not concentrate at specific regions such as ferrite/martensite interface and/or martensite lath interface, which reveals that trace amounts of P(≤ 0.015 wt%) have almost no effect on the mechanical properties of DP steels. It is proved for the first time that the MC-type carbides of(Ti, Mo) C can reduce or eliminate the damage effect of P on the mechanical properties of steels, which provides a new way for the design of alloys to reduce P damage. This work will promote to increase the P content control standard in DP steels from 0.01 to 0.015 wt%, which will not change the mechanical properties, but greatly reduce the scrap rate and increase the energy e fficiency of the manufacturing process.