Effect of High-Temperature Annealing on the Cross-Tension Property of Resistance Spot Welded Medium-Mn Steel

As one of the most promising 3rd generation advanced high strength steels (AHSS), medium Mn steels attract much attention because of their exceptional mechanical property and reasonable cost. However, their application in the modern automotive industry is limited by poor weldability. In this study, 7Mn steel was welded by resistance spot welding (RSW), which was followed by high-temperature annealing to increase the cross-tension property. With this effort, enhanced cross-tension strength (CTS) with a partial interfacial fracture (PIF) mode was realized. During the annealing after RSW that produced martensite, austenitization was realized and then evolved into martensite by the following air cooling. This process produced structure homogeneity across the joint. With respect to the RSW joint, martensite remained the dominant structure after annealing while the diffusion of C and Mn solutes was triggered. With the increase of annealing temperature, the diffusion was enhanced, and the grain boundary embrittlement was reduced, leading to higher CTS.