Effect of Carbon Gradient on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Fe-22Mn-C TWIP/TRIP Steels

High-manganese austenitic steels are promising emerging automotive steels demonstrating high strength and ductility. The main deformation products observed in these steels are mechanical twins and ε-martensite, where the dominant deformation products vary quite strongly with stacking fault energy (SFE), which in turn is a very strong function of the alloy carbon content. In this research, a Fe-22Mn-0.6C sheet steel was decarburized to achieve a variety of through-thickness C gradients, thereby varying the dominant deformation products through the sheet thickness, with the overall objective of producing unique microstructures and mechanical properties. Microstructural analyses after interrupted tensile testing indicated that the amount of both mechanical twins and ε-martensite increased with increasing true strain, where the deformation products changed from mechanical twins at the higher-C core to ε-martensite at the lower-C surface. The spring-back properties of the C graded steels were also compared with reference to the effect of differential carbon concentration gradient.