Effect of a novel controlled thermomechanical treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a high-carbon nanobainitic steel

The effect of the novel controlled thermomechanical treatment, including torsion components in the elastic strain range during the isothermal holding on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the high-carbon nanobainitic steel, was investigated. TEM observations of the thermo-mechanically treated steel revealed bainitic ferrite laths with an average size of 68 ± 40 nm and films of retained austenite with an average size of 34 ± 17 nm, along with the blocky morphology of retained austenite in sub-micron scale. The XRD synchrotron diffraction allows estimating the amount of retained austenite at 43.1 ± 1.2% volume fraction with a carbon concentration of 1.17 ± 0.09 wt.%. Furthermore, the deconvolution of (200) Fe-γ reflections corresponding to two different low-carbon and high-carbon retained austenite peaks and, simultaneously, the blocky and film-like retained austenite was performed. In addition, the Nishiyama–Wassermann (N–W) crystallographic orientation relationship between bainitic ferrite and retained austenite was described as dominant using the misorientation distribution function (MDF). The crystallographic texture results indicated that the main growth of bainitic ferrite plates occurred after removing external stress during isothermal holding. The tensile tests and hardness measurements showed a high tensile strength achieved mainly by nano-metric bainitic ferrite plates and a high dislocation density. The high level of elongation is most likely attained due to a high amount of retained austenite in steel and both TRIP and TWIP effects during tensile deformation.