Flat carbon steel manufacturers are currently developing new TRansformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steels as a response to strong demands for vehicle lightening and security reinforcement from the automobile sector. Compared to conventional high strength steels these advanced grades exhibit a very favourable compromise between strength and ductility and can therefore be produced in thinner, lighter gauge strips with equivalent functional properties. The excellent mechanical properties of TRIP steels are attributed to the high strain hardening coefficient generated by the progressive transformation of metastable retained austenite to martensite during plastic deformation. Further improvements in mechanical properties can be obtained by microalloying, especially with vanadium and nitrogen additions. In this paper we discuss the rather complex evolution of vanadium carbonitride V(C, N) precipitation during continuous annealing of cold rolled strip. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selective chemical dissolution are used to characterise the precipitation state during interrupted intercritical annealing cycles. The experimental results are compared with calculations made using a recent kinetic precipitation model. We show that reasonable agreement can be achieved using a simple uncoupled model, however a complete description of the precipitation sequence during continuous annealing will require fully coupled kinetic models describing the interactions between cementite dissolution, the ferrite to austenite transformation and V(C, N) precipitation.KEY WORDS: cold rolled TRIP; microalloying; V(C, N) precipitation; kinetics modelling. ISIJ International, Vol. 47 (2007), No. 8, pp. 1168-1177 Points 1-4 and 6 require that the precipitating species should be highly soluble in austenite. Points 5, 7 and 8 require the maximum possible precipitation driving force to generate a high particle nucleation density. Concerning point 7, intragranular precipitation will dominate if the precipitation step occurs in a deformed matrix, for example during annealing after cold rolling. Finally, point 9 would seem to favour the precipitation of nitrides or carbonitrides rather than pure carbides, which would tend to reduce the amount of carbon available to stabilise the residual austenite during the bainitic transformation. Taking into account all of the above criteria, the microalloying element which best satisfies these criteria is vanadium.
Precipitation of VanadiumThe equilibrium solubility products for microalloy carbides and nitrides in austenite show that VN is the nitride which has the greatest solubility in austenite and that VC is even more soluble in austenite and in ferrite.10) For the purposes of precipitation strengthening in TRIP grades, it is the precipitates formed in the soft ferrite phase that are the most effective. It is therefore desirable to maintain the V in solution in the hot coil and to precipitate during continuous annealing after cold rolling. Due to the short holding times available in commercial c...