The development of a new Fe-Mn-C austenitic steel for automotive applications

The current strong demand for vehicle lightening from the automobile sector requires flat carbon steel manufacturers to develop new advanced grades capable of fulfilling the increasingly stringent technical requirements of this market. Arcelor Research has recently developed an ultra high strength Fe-Mn-C austenitic steel with excellent formability for automotive applications. The X-IPTM1000 steel composition is optimised to provide the best compromise in ultimate tensile strength (>1000 MPa) and total elongation (>50%) at room temperature. These properties are achieved through the optimisation of the TWIP (TWinning Induced Plasticity) effect by careful control of the stacking fault energy (SFE) and the final microstructure.