Effect of V–Ti Addition on Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Hot-Rolled Transformation-Induced Plasticity Steel

In order to reveal the effect of V–Ti addition on the microstructure evolution and the mechanical properties of hot-rolled transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP) steel, two steels with 0.072V–0.051Ti steel (Bear-V–Ti steel) and 0.001V–0.001Ti steel (Free-V–Ti steel) were designed, respectively, and the comparison analyses were carried out by performing thermodynamic calculation and an experiment. With the thermodynamic calculation, the critical annealing temperature of a large fraction of retained austenite (~ 51%) obtained via solute enrichment was determined, and an optimized quenching at 650 °C and tempering at 200 °C adopted on the as-hot-rolled steel. The results show that the V–Ti TRIP steel displays more optimum mechanical stability during the tensile deformation, since the fraction and the mechanical stability of retained austenite are improved and the microstructure is also ultrarefined by V–Ti alloy precipitation. The yield strength of Bear-V–Ti steel increases from 650 to 800 MPa, and the ductility reaches 37%, showing that the comprehensive mechanical properties are greatly improved.