Strain hardening behavior and microstructural evolution during plastic deformation of dual phase, non-grain oriented electrical and AISI 304 steels

Strain hardening behavior and microstructural evolution of non-grain oriented electrical, dual phase, and AISI 304 steels, subjected to uniaxial tensile tests, were investigated in this study. Tensile tests were performed at room temperature and the strain hardening behavior of the steels was characterized by three different parameters: modified Crussard–Jaoul stages, strain hardening rate and instantaneous strain hardening exponent. Optical microscopic analysis, X-ray diffraction measurements, phase quantification by Rietveld refinement and hardness tests were also carried out in order to correlate the microstructural and mechanical responses to plastic deformation. Distinct strain hardening stages were observed in the steels in terms of the instantaneous strain hardening exponent and the strain hardening rate. The dual phase and non-grain oriented steels exhibited a two-stage strain hardening behavior while the AISI 304 steel displayed multiple stages, resulting in a more complex strain hardening behavior. The dual phase steels showed a high work hardening capacity in stage 1, which was gradually reduced in stage 2. On the other hand, the AISI 304 steel showed high strain hardening capacity, which continued to increase up to the tensile strength. This is a consequence of its additional strain hardening mechanism, based on a strain-induced martensitic transformation, as shown by the X-ray diffraction and optical microscopic analyses.