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Acta Metall Sin  2025, Vol. 61 Issue (5): 674-686    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00285
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Achieving an Excellent Hole Expansion Behavior in Complex Phase Steels by Characteristic Distribution of Martensite-Austenite Constituents
YANG Xiaoyu1,2, MI Zhenli1(), FANG Xing1, LIU Hangrui1, MU Wangzhong2,3()
1 Institute of Engineering Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE 100 44, Stockholm, Sweden
3 Engineering Materials, Lulea University of Technology, SE 971 87, Lulea, Sweden
Cite this article: 

YANG Xiaoyu, MI Zhenli, FANG Xing, LIU Hangrui, MU Wangzhong. Achieving an Excellent Hole Expansion Behavior in Complex Phase Steels by Characteristic Distribution of Martensite-Austenite Constituents. Acta Metall Sin, 2025, 61(5): 674-686.

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Abstract  

Complex phase (CP) steels are widely used in automotive components such as frame rails, rocker panels, and tunnel stiffeners owing to their high strength and good local formability. The subtle hardness difference between microstructures allows CP steels to exhibit excellent hole expansion performance, with the high-hardness martensite-austenite (MA) constituents being the critical structure. The distribution of MA constituents is crucial to the mechanical properties of the product. This study aims to improve the hole expansion property by constructing a continuous distribution of MA constituents along the rolling direction at the thickness center. Microstructures and hole expansion behavior were investigated using CLSM, SEM, EBSD, and hole expansion tests. Results indicate that after thermodynamic treatment, the MA constituents were aggregated at the thickness center in a continuous distribution along the rolling direction with a long axis of approximately 1.25 μm, and an average distance of less than 1.0 μm. Microhardness quantification of the plastic damage on the punching edge suggests that the advanced steel exhibits the highest hardening at the thickness center with a 41% hardness increase after punching, which is higher than the 31% hardening in the maximum hardening burr zone of the base steel. The advanced steel, despite suffering severe punching damage, exhibited a hole expansion ratio of approximately 43%, higher than the 34% of the base steel. Quasi in situ interrupted hole expansion tests indicate that at the thickness center of the advanced steel, the circumferential cracks formed through a multiple void interaction mechanism which promotes the stress release. In the matrix, pit-like damage is caused by a void coalescence mechanism. Both mechanisms lead to the mechanical instability and eventual failure of the steel. The damaging position of the hole edge had a decisive impact on the fracture mode.

Key words:  complex phase steel      martensite-austenite (MA) constituent      hole expansion ratio      fracture     
Received:  16 August 2024     
ZTFLH:  TG337.5  
Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(52274372);Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education(IB2022-9228)
Corresponding Authors:  MI Zhenli, professor, Tel: (010)62332598-6609, E-mail: mizl@nercar.ustb.edu.cn;
MU Wangzhong, associate professor, Tel: +46-0920-493644, E-mail: wangzhong.mu@ltu.se

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2024.00285     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2025/V61/I5/674

TypeCSiMnPSTiAlsCrNFe
Base steel0.060.051.700.0100.00280.120.0390.360.0054Bal.
Advanced steel0.050.251.600.0170.00450.130.0270.400.0023Bal.
Table 1  Chemical compositions of base steel and advanced steel
Fig.1  Illustration of hole expansion test under ISO 16630 standard (D0—diameter of pore, F—force)
Fig.2  Schematics of the observation positions for punching hole sample (a) and milling hole sample (b), with the red area indicating the observation surface in interrupted hole expansion test (ND—normal direction, RD—rolling direction, TD—transverse direction)
Fig.3  Microstructure characteristics of the hot-rolled base steel (a-d) and advanced steel (e-h) (F—ferrite, B—bainite, MA—martensite-austenite constituent, GB—grain boundary)
(a, e) OM images (b, c, f, g) SEM-SE images (d, h) EBSD images
Fig.4  Hardening characteristics in shear affected zone (SAZ)
(a) schematic of observation position and regions of SAZ
(b) regions of SAZ and microhardness positions
(c-f) microhardness curves of rollover zone (c), burnished zone (d), interface of burnished zone and fracture zone (e), and fracture zone (f), respectively (Microhardness positions are shown in Fig.4b)
(g, h) schematics of damage hardening in SAZ of base steel (g) and advanced steel (h) (The number is the damage characteristic value)
Fig.5  Edge morphologies in base steel (a, a1, c, c1) and advanced steel (b, b1, d, d1) after the hole expansion test under pre-damage conditions with OM images (a, a1, b, b1) and un-damage conditions with SEM-SE images (c, c1, d, d1) (Figs.5a1-d1 are corresponding locally enlarged images of Figs.5a-d)
Fig.6  OM (a, d) and SEM-SE (b, c, e-h) images of the edge of the base steel (a-c) and advanced steel (d-h) under 15 mm punch displacement
Fig.7  OM (a, d) and SEM-SE (b, c, e, f) images of the edge of the base steel (a-c) and advanced steel (d-f) under 25 mm punch displacement
Fig.8  Schematics of base steel (a-c) and advanced steel (d-f) in original state (a, d), damage (b, e), and failure (c, f) during hole expansion deformation
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