Abstract: | Two experimental steels with tensile strength above 980 MPa were prepared to investigate the effect of prestrain and baking on their mechanical and fracture behaviors. The experimental results reveal that,for both experimental steels,with increases in the prestrain level,the bake hardening value increases before reaching a maximum point,and then decreases with further increases in the prestrain level. The results of a bending-baking-secondary bendingtest indicate that the secondary bendability deteriorates at a high level of prestrain. The yield strength of the experimental steels was found to increase and the elongation to decrease after high levels of prestrain and bake hardening. Fracture morphology images indicate that a high prestrain level is associated with shallow dimples and more and larger local cleavage areas. |