Work hardening behavior in a steel with multiple TRIP mechanisms

Transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) behavior was studied in steel with composition Fe-0.07C-2.85Si-15.3Mn-2.4Al-0.017N that exhibited two TRIP mechanisms. The initial microstructure consisted of both ε- and α-martensites with 27% retained austenite. TRIP behavior in the first 5% strain was predominately austenite transforming to ε-martensite (Stage I), but upon saturation of Stage I, the ε-martensite transformed to α-martensite (Stage II). Alloy segregation also affected the TRIP behavior with alloy rich regions producing TRIP just prior to necking. This behavior was explained by first principle calculations that revealed aluminum significantly affected the stacking fault energy in Fe-Mn-Al-C steels by decreasing the unstable stacking fault energy and promoting easy nucleation of ε-martensite. The addition of aluminum also raised the intrinsic stacking fault energy and caused the ε-martensite to be unstable and transform to α-martensite under further deformation. The two stage TRIP behavior produced a high strain hardening exponent of 1.4 and led to ultimate tensile strength of 1165 MPa and elongation to failure of 35%.