Effect of heat treatment on microstructures and mechanical properties of hot-dip galvanized DP steels

In order to simulate the hot-dipped galvanizing of dual-phase (DP) steel (wt%) 0.15C-0.1Si-1.7Mn, the DP steels were obtained by different annealing schedules. The effects of soaking temperature, time, and cooling rate on ferrite grain, volume fraction of martensite, and the fine structure of martensite were studied. Results showed that the yield strength (YS) of DP steel is sensitive to annealing schedule, while total elongation has no noticeable dependence on annealing schedule. Increasing soaking temperature from 790 to 850 °C, the YS is the lowest at soaking temperature of 850 °C. Changing CR1 from 6 to 24 °C/s, the YS is the highest when CR1 is 12 °C/s. Increasing soaking time from 30 to 100 s, the YS is the lowest at soaking time of 100 s. Besides, it was found that sufficient movable dislocations within ferrite grains and high martensite volume fraction can eliminate yield point elongation, decrease the YS, and increase ultimate tensile strength. Through TEM observations, it was also found that increasing annealing temperature promotes austenite transformation into twin martensite, and increases volume fraction of martensite at sufficient cooling rate. With increasing the martensite volume fraction, the deformation substructure in the ferrite is well developed. © The Chinese Society for Metals and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.