Strain hardenability of ultrafine grained low carbon steels processed by ECAP

Abstract

Room temperature tensile properties of ultrafine grained (UFG) low carbon steels prepared by using equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and post heat treatment are reviewed, focusing on the restoration of their strain hardenability. The utilization of nano-sized vanadium carbide particles was found to be less effective on improving strain hardenability of UFG ferrite/pearlite steel. By contrast, UFG ferrite/martensite dual phase steel exhibited an excellent combination of ultrahigh strength, large uniform elongation and even extensive strain hardenability.