Strong and ductile medium Mn steel without transformation-induced plasticity effect

Abstract

The conventional alloy design of medium Mn steel is to optimize the transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) effect. Here we show that a dual-phase heterogeneous structure is sufficient to develop a medium Mn steel with high yield strength (∼1.2 GPa) and large uniform elongation (∼14.5%). The ultra-high strength is contributed by high back-stress while the large ductility is induced by strain-gradient plasticity and back-stress hardening, both of which are inherent to dual-phase heterogeneous structure. TRIP effect is suppressed during plastic deformation. Therefore, medium Mn steel can be strong and ductile by engineering dual-phase heterogeneous structure without resorting to TRIP effect. (Figure Presented). Impact Statement: We demonstrate that medium Mn steel can be strong and ductile by engineering dual-phase heterogeneous structure without resorting to the conventional transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) effect.