Strong and ductile medium manganese steel processed by low-temperature partitioning

Conventional medium Mn steels processed by intercritical annealing (IA) demonstrate low yield strength. The present work investigates the effect of low-temperature partitioning (LTP) on the microstructure and tensile properties of medium Mn steel. It is found that medium Mn steel processed by LTP at 300°C possesses ultra-high yield strength of 1683 MPa and proper uniform elongation of 11.3%. The LTP process does not reduce the yield strength but substantially enhances the tensile ductility. The increase of the tensile ductility after LTP treatment can be ascribed to the reduction of the residual stress, martensitic transformation, and the well-developed ductile fracture behaviour. The present LTP process provides an alternative pathway to develop strong and ductile medium Mn steel.