A submicron mild steel produced by simple warm deformation

One simple deformation process, through which a submicron ferrite grained mild steel was fabricated, was introduced. According to the transmission electron microscope images of the microstructures, most of the boundaries formed during the process might be low angle boundaries, which means that most of the ultrafine grains are subgrains. This deformation process is attractive because: (1) the necessary strain was only 1.5, (2) the deformation resistance decreased due to higher rolling temperature, and (3) the as warm-rolled mild steel had a microstructure with equiaxed grains of 0.7 μm in average diameter. The result of mechanical tests indicates that better properties, with comparison to its coarse-grained counterpart, were obtained, including doubled yield strength, high hardness, good work hardening and reliable elongation. Cross effect was observed during tensile process and interpreted from point view of conventional dislocation movement.