Investigations on austenite stability and martensitic transformation kinetics of a medium Mn steel under different strain states

Martensitic transformation has received wide attention due to its significant role in improving mechanical properties of medium Mn steels. In this paper, three typical strain states in sheet metal forming, uniaxial tension, biaxial tension and plane strain states, were selected to investigate the effect of the strain state on martensitic transformation of a medium Mn steel at room temperature. The experimental results show that the austenite stability of the medium Mn steel is seriously strain state dependent. The sample deformed under the plane strain state exhibits the lowest austenite stability, while it progressively increases for biaxial tension and uniaxial tension states. The microstructural evolution and the strain partitioning behavior of the material are characterized. It is indicated that the strains in austenite under different deformation modes are quite different even though the overall deformation conditions are similar, which leads to different transformation rates of γ → α’ transformation. Besides, the ε-martensitic transformation that only generates under the plane strain state further decreases the austenite stability. A strain state dependent α’-martensitic transformation kinetics law is proposed that incorporates the effect of the stress triaxiality and Lode angle parameter, which provides a reasonable prediction of γ → α’ transformation in the medium Mn steel over a wide range of strain states.