Toward interplay between substructure evolution, dislocation configuration, and yield strength in a microalloyed steel

We focus our attention here on the directional dependence of yield strength in high strength microalloyed steel using transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. The primary objective is to study the interplay between substructural evolution, notably cell size, dense dislocation walls (DDWs), dislocation tangle zones (DTZs), lamellar boundaries, crystallographic texture, and yield strength. The study elucidates for the first time the strong impact of thermo-mechanical deformation-induced dislocation and lamellar structures, which are likely to modify the slip pattern, leading to directional dependence of yield strength. Majority of the dislocations tend to pile along the {110} slip planes as dense dislocation walls. At low strains, grains are first divided into cell blocks that are nearly dislocation-free. At higher strains and with progress in thermo-mechanical processing dislocation tangled zones and lamellar boundaries develop. It is hypothesized that the differences in dislocation configurations, dislocations cells and cell blocks, and lamellar boundaries synergistically contribute to directional dependence of the yield strength in the high strength ferrous alloy. The presumption is envisaged on the basis of observations that the microstructural constituents were similar in the entire plane of the hot rolled strip and the crystallographic texture was weak.