PNNL

Abstract

In this paper, the microstructure-based finite element modeling method is used as a virtual design tool in investigating the respective influence of various material design parameters on the deformation behaviors of transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels. For this purpose, the separate effects of several different material design parameters, such as the volume fraction and stability of austenite phase and the strengths of the constituent phases, on the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and ductility/formability of TRIP steels are quantitatively examined using different representative volume elements (RVEs) representing different TRIP steels. The computational results suggest that higher austenite stability is helpful in enhancing the ductility and formability of TRIP steels by delaying the martensitic transformation to a later stage, whereas increase of austenite volume fraction and/or ferrite strength alone is not beneficial to improve the performance of TRIP steels. The results in this study also indicate that various material design parameters must be adjusted concurrently to develop high performance TRIP steels. For example, the austenite strength should increase over the ferrite strength in order to induce the gradual/smooth martensitic transformation, and the strength disparity between the ferrite and the freshly-formed martensite phases should decrease in order to avoid higher stress/strain concentration along the phase boundaries. The modeling approach and results presented in this paper can be helpful in providing the deformation fundamentals for the development of high performance TRIP steels.