Toughness deterioration in advanced high strength bainitic steels

Carbide free bainitic steels alloyed with manganese have achieved the highest strength and toughness combinations to date for bainitic steels. Ultimate tensile strengths ranging from 1600 to 1800 MPa were achieved while keeping a total elongation higher than 10%. Their toughness at room temperature matches tempered martensitic steels, known to be the best-in-class regarding this property. This improvement in toughness is achieved suppressing the precipitation of cementite during bainite formation by alloying the steel with about 1.5 wt% of silicon. However, it has been observed that strongly orientated martensite bands, associated to inhomogeneous manganese redistribution during solidification, lead to a remarkable deterioration in toughness in these advanced bainitic steels. The stress concentration associated with highly heterogeneous hardness distribution in the microstructure contributes to the premature crack nucleation.