An experimental investigation of energy absorption in TRIP steel under impact three-point bending deformation

TRIP (Transformation-induced Plasticity) steel is nowadays in widespread use in the automobile industry because of their favorable mechanical properties such as high strength, excellent formability and toughness because of strain-induced martensitic transformation. Moreover, when TRIP steel is applied to the components of the vehicles, it is expected that huge amount of kinetic energy will be absorbed into both plastic deformation and martensitic transformation during the collision. Basically, bending deformation due to buckling is one of the major crash deformation modes of automobile structures. Thus, an investigation of energy absorption during bending deformation at high impact velocity for TRIP steel is indispensable. Although TRIP steel have particularly attracted the recent interest of the scientific community, just few studies can be found on the energy absorption characteristic of TRIP steel, especially at impact loading condition. In present study, experimental investigations of bending deformation behaviors of TRIP steel are conducted in the three-point bending tests for both smooth and pre-cracked specimen. Then, energy absorption characteristic during plastic deformation and fracture process at high impact velocity in TRIP steel will be discussed.