Study of the inelastic response of TRIP steels after plastic deformation

A study of the elastic response before and after tensile plastic strain was undertaken for two commercial low-alloyed TRIP steels. These steels, TRIP 700 (C-Mn-Al alloy) and TRIP 800 (C-Mn-Si) are commercial alloys used in sheet metal stamping. The behaviour of the instantaneous tangent modulus (ET) versus stress during loading and unloading was measured for each degree of prestrain. Loading curves show a decrease in the ET of the deformed samples as compared with the undeformed state. Though at low stresses a highly linear response was measured for both steels, a decrease was obtained for TRIP 700 as strain increased, whereas TRIP 800 remained unchanged. During unloading, a progressive decrease in ET was obtained in all deformed states, with lower chord modulus values as the tensile plastic prestrain increased. The inelastic response observed is attributed mainly to microplastic strain caused by the displacement of mobile dislocations. Thus, the differences between the two TRIP steels studied are related to the microstructure and the different dislocation structures observed in them. A notable consequence of this study is a better accuracy in the prediction of springback passes due to a better understanding of these inelastic effects that stems from going beyond mere use of traditional Young's modulus values.