The influence of martensite, bainite and ferrite on the as-quenched constitutive response of simultaneously quenched and deformed boron steel – Experiments and model

Highlights: • Gleeble tests were conducted to quench and simultaneously deform boron steel. • Different as-quenched vol. fractions of martensite, bainite and ferrite were observed. • Low to int. strain rate tensile tests were conducted on the as-quenched materials. • The presence of ferrite improved the uniform elongation, hardening rate and toughness. • A rate sensitive const. model was developed for varying vol fract. mart/bain/ferrite. - Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between as-formed microstructure and mechanical properties of a hot stamped boron steel used in automotive structural applications. Boron steel sheet metal blanks were austenized and quenched at cooling rates of 30 °C/s, 15 °C/s and 10 °C/s within a Gleeble thermal–mechanical simulator. For each cooling rate condition, the blanks were simultaneously deformed at temperatures of 600 °C and 800 °C. A strain of approximately 0.20 was imposed in the middle of the blanks, from which miniature tensile specimens were extracted. Depending on the cooling rate and deformation temperature imposed on the specimens, some of the as-quenched microstructures consisted of predominantly martensite and bainite, while others consisted of martensite, bainite and ferrite. Optical and SEM metallographraphic techniques were used to quantify the area fractions of the phases present and quasi-static (0.003 s−1) uniaxial tests were conducted on the miniature tensile specimens. The results revealed that an area fraction of ferrite greater than 6% led to an increased uniform elongation and an increase in n-value without affecting the strength of the material for equivalent hardness levels. This finding resulted in improved energy absorption due to the presence of ferrite and showed that a material with a predominantly bainitic microstructure containing 16% ferrite (with 257 HV) resulted in a 28% increase in energy absorption when compared to a material condition that was fully bainitic with a hardness of 268 HV. Elevated strain rate tension tests were also conducted at 10 s−1 and 80 s−1 and the effect of strain rate on the ultimate tensile strength (σUTS) and yield strength (σY) was shown to be moderate for all of the conditions. The true stress versus effective plastic strain (flow stress) curves generated from the tensile tests were used to develop the "Tailored Crash Model II" (TCM II) which is a strain rate sensitive constitutive model that is a function of effective plastic strain, true strain rate and area fraction of martensite, bainite and ferrite. The model was shown to accurately capture the hardening behaviour and strain rate sensitivity of the multiphase material conditions examined