Study on the Strain Hardening Behaviors of TWIP/TRIP Steels

Due to the complex coupling of twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP), transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP), and dislocation glide in TWIP/TRIP steels, it is difficult as well as essential to build a comprehensive strain hardening model to describe the interactions between different deformation mechanisms (i.e., deformation twinning, martensitic transformation, and dislocation glide) and the resulted strain hardening behaviors. To address this issue, a micromechanical model is established in this paper to predict the deformation process of TWIP/TRIP steels considering both TWIP and TRIP effects. In the proposed model, the generation of deformation twinning and martensitic transformation is controlled by the stacking fault energy (SFE) of the material. In the thermodynamic calculation of SFE, deformation temperature, chemical compositions, microstrain, and temperature rise during deformation are taken into account. Varied by experimental results, the developed model can predict the stress–strain response and strain hardening behaviors of TWIP/TRIP steels precisely. In addition, the improved strength and enhanced strain hardening in Fe-Mn-C TWIP/TRIP steels due to the increased carbon content is also analyzed, which consists with literature.