Achieving an excellent balance of strength, plasticity, and stretch flangeability in a 1000 MPa grade TRIP-assisted bainitic ferrite steel

To address the requirements for safety enhancement, weight reduction, and emission reduction, a novel transformation-induced plasticity-assisted bainitic ferrite (TBF) steel was processed by involving a pre-quenching (PQ) process. This steel was designed with varying PQ temperatures to achieve different fractions of intercritical ferrite and bainite, and its influence on mechanical properties of TBF steels was thoroughly investigated through tensile tests and hole expansion tests. The results demonstrated that the introduction of high-temperature PQ treatment before heat treatment can dramatically accelerate the formation of austenite during the secondary annealing process, thereby facilitating a more sufficient bainitic transformation in the subsequent isothermal process. With the increase of PQ temperature from 750 to 900 °C, abundant intercritical ferrite was replaced by lathy bainite. In comparison with conventional specimens, the high-temperature PQ treatment could reduce the fraction of intercritical ferrite and martensite-austenite (M-A) islands, in favor of delaying the initiation of microvoid and microcrack and improving local formability. In summary, the P-900 specimen exhibited optimal comprehensive mechanical properties, with the highest yield strength of 657 MPa, ultimate tensile strength of 1081 MPa, elongation of 28.7%, and hole expansion ratio of 35.1%.