Microstructure and Tensile Properties in Dual Phase and Trip Steels

Advanced high‐strength steels, like dual phase and TRIP steels, have gained much interest for automotive application. The complex microstructures in dual phase steels, and even more critical, the metastable microstructure in TRIP steels, do not follow the well‐established traditional microstructure‐property relationships for deep drawing steels. The volume fraction of the different phases, the phase distribution, and the stability of metastable phases influence significantly the forming potential. This paper discusses the correlation between different microstructural features and the mechanical properties. The tensile test properties of dual phase steels are governed by the martensite volume fraction, the martensite hardness and to a much smaller extent the martensite island diameter. Both in dual phase and more pronounced in TRIP steels the retained austenite content plays a vital role in determining the formability. The stability of the retained austenite can be described by different methods, it needs to be adjusted according to the forming temperature and the type and amount of strain. In general, multiphase steels require a very strict microstructure control in order to develop predictable forming behaviour.