Influence of Martensite Distribution on the Mechanical Properties of Dual Phase Steels: Experiments and Simulation

The application of multiphase steels in the automotive industry has been rapidly increased according to economic, environmental and safety reasons. To determine an optimal combination of high strength and good formability of multiphase steels by using the FE modelling, their complex microstructures have to be considered. Two‐dimensional Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) were currently developed based on real microstructures for dual phase (DP) steels. In general, the microstructure of DP steels contains hard martensite particles and a soft ferritic matrix. The strain hardening behaviour of the individual phases was described in the model taking the microstructural constituents and the carbon partitioning during intercritical annealing into account. Two dual phase microstructures with same martensitecontent but different martensite distributions were investigated in experiment as well as in FEM simulation by means of the RVE. The resulting mechanical properties of these steels are strongly influenced by the phase distribution and interaction. As validation, calculated flow curves were compared with the experimental results from quasi‐static tensile tests. In addition, the local stress and strain partitioning between both phases depending on the spatial phase distribution and morphology is discussed.