Advanced Multiphase Steels
1
Materials and Manufacturing Division, CEIT, Paseo Manuel Lardizabal 15, 20018 San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain
2
Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department, Tecnun, Universidad de Navarra, Paseo Manuel Lardizabal 13, 20018 San Sebastian, Basque Country, Spain
Metals 2023, 13(11), 1871; https://doi.org/10.3390/met13111871
Submission received: 7 October 2023
/
Accepted: 13 October 2023
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Published: 10 November 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Multiphase Steels)
1. Introduction and Scope
We are currently experiencing an increasingly fast development of new steel grades with complex multiphase microstructures attempting to give tailored answers to industrial demands. The combination of the dissimilar mechanical properties of the phases gives rise to a great variety of mechanical responses, which draws the attention of the academia and industrial communities. Those mechanical properties can be tuned with the help of ad hoc alloying and processing strategies. However, the state of the art on the relationships among properties, processing, and microstructure reveals that our knowledge is far from complete when two or more phases are involved. Improving microstructural and mechanical characterization techniques, models, and simulations to characterize, understand, and predict multiphase steels’ phase transformation and mechanical behavior is critical to achieving optimized solutions. This Special Issue, “Advances in Multiphase Steels”, aims to present the latest achievements in several aspects of multiphase steels of alloy design, processing optimization, and their final mechanical properties.
2. Contributions
The manuscripts gathered in this Special Issue are committed to a variety of steel grades, embracing DP (Dual Phase) steels [1], medium-Mn steels [2,3], CFB (Carbide Free Bainitic steels) [4], nano-bainitic cast steel [5], δ-TRIP (TRansformation Induced Plasticity) [6] and precipitation hardened ferritic stainless steel [7].
A wide range of topics are researched that comprise the alloy design [2,6,7], optimization of both the hot working process [2] and the final heat treatment [5], and the final mechanical properties [1,3,4,6].
When looking at the alloying effects, Mn content relevance both on medium-Mn steels [2] and on δ-TRIP steels [6] is analyzed in detail. The role of Nb additions is also tackled as an element that may control and optimize the hot rolling behavior [2], the microstructure development during the whole industrial process [1,2], and also enhance the mechanical properties [1,7].
The optimization of the final bainitic heat treatment is analyzed for nano-bainitic cast steel [5]
In references [3,4,5,6], the mechanical stability of the retained austenite during tensile testing is studied deeply, whereas its thermal stability upon final thermomechanical or thermal treatment is analyzed in [2,6]. It is a pivotal phase to optimize the mechanical behavior of various multiphase steels.
The application of advanced characterization techniques such as in situ EBSD (Electron Backscatter Diffraction) [6], high-resolution TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) [1,5], or HRXRD (High-Energy X-Ray Diffraction) [3] for the fine analysis of the final microstructures of the steels under static and dynamic conditions is remarkable.
3. Conclusions and Outlook
Complex multiphase steels have been a topic of great interest for many metallurgists during the last years, as shown in the manuscripts included in this Special Issue. The optimized combination of the mechanical properties of the phases involved in the final product for the selected application can be achieved via an intelligent choice of tailored alloying and processing strategies. The bundle of works in this issue sheds light on aspects that move from hot working to final heat treatments for various steel grades. However, the insightful studies in this issue demonstrate that multiphase steels still require intensive and profound research to understand the basic mechanisms of phase transformation and further mechanical behavior via their connection to the process conditions. The degree of acceptance of the multiphase steels in industrial practice and under service conditions relies on this fundamental knowledge, which provides meaningful clues about their manufacturability, productivity, and range of final applicability.
Acknowledgments
As Guest Editor, I would like to express my deepest acknowledgment to all the authors for contributing with their manuscripts and sharing their latest developments. I also have to extend my gratitude to all the reviewers for their timely work and efforts to improve the quality of the articles. In this line, I take the advantage to encourage the rest of the community to keep researching steel-related topics, as their relevance is crucial for the sustainable progress of the current society. Finally, it has been a pleasure to work with the editors and the staff (Metals Editorial Office). Without the contribution of all of you, this issue would not have seen the light.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
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Jorge-Badiola, D. Advanced Multiphase Steels. Metals 2023, 13, 1871. https://doi.org/10.3390/met13111871
AMA Style
Jorge-Badiola D. Advanced Multiphase Steels. Metals. 2023; 13(11):1871. https://doi.org/10.3390/met13111871
Chicago/Turabian StyleJorge-Badiola, Denis. 2023. "Advanced Multiphase Steels" Metals 13, no. 11: 1871. https://doi.org/10.3390/met13111871
APA StyleJorge-Badiola, D. (2023). Advanced Multiphase Steels. Metals, 13(11), 1871. https://doi.org/10.3390/met13111871
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