High Versatility of Niobium Alloyed AHSS

The effect of processing parameters on the final microstructure and properties of advanced high strength CMnSiNb steel was investigated. Several processing strategies with various numbers of deformation steps and various cooling schedules were carried out, namely heat treatment without deformation, conventional quenching and TRIP steel processing with bainitic hold or continuous cooling. Obtained multiphase microstructures consisted of the mixture of ferrite, bainite, retained austenite and M-A constituent. They possessed ultimate tensile strength in the range of 780-970 MPa with high ductility A_{5 mm} above 30%. Volume fraction of retained austenite was for all the samples around 13%. The only exception was reference quenched sample with the highest strength 1186 MPa, lowest ductility A_{5 mm} = 20% and only 4% of retained austenite.