Dislocation accumulation-induced strength-ductility synergy in TRIP-aided duplex stainless steel

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the intrinsic mechanism of intensive and progressive transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) effects and their different strength-ductility synergies using a resource-efficient 15Cr-2Ni duplex stainless steel. The progressive TRIP material exhibits a ductility that is more than twice that of the intensive TRIP material, as well as, a larger product of the ultimate tensile strength and ductility. This is attributed to the dislocation accumulation caused by different grain sizes of strain-induced martensite depending on the stability of the phase, which determines the strength and work hardening of steel. When the stability is low, the phase is sensitive to loaded stress and transformed into dispersed fine martensite immediately after yielding at a high rate. It induces a sigmoid-shaped dislocation accumulation to an approximately 10-fold increase in the dislocation density at a limited strain, resulting in intensive work hardening and a large ultimate tensile strength. As the stability is adequate, the phase is transformed into coarse martensite laths with a high critical load stress, which is initiated from a delayed strain at an extremely low rate and steadily accelerated as the strain increases. This process induces a gradually increased dislocation accumulation to a 2–3-fold increase in the dislocation density at large strains, resulting in progressive work hardening and an excellent ductility.