Rapid alloy prototyping for strip steel development: DP800 steel case study

Abstract

Alloy development on a commercial scale in recent years has become much more costly and as such has adopted a more iterative approach, making small refinements while keeping within known limits. Laboratory-based rapid alloy development is therefore a key in pushing new grade boundaries. This work shows the rapid alloy development (RAP) facilities at WMG, including capability, sizes and time required for each stage of the process, which have been mapped against the relevant industrial process. A case study of a dual-phase steel grade DP800 has been used for this work. It has been shown that through knowledge of the strengthening mechanism of the alloy (2nd phase distribution for DP800) is critical with respect to mechanical properties and that specific changes and optimisation to the laboratory production casting and subsequent reduction allows for the final product microstructure and mechanical properties to match the production product. This gives confidence in upscalability.