A Study on the Mechanical Properties of Dual Phase Steels Prepared by the Direct and Step Quenching Procedure

Two different dual phase steels were prepared from low carbon manganese steel after the eliminationof the banding using the direct quenching (DQ) and the step quenching (SQ) procedures. Different heattreatments resulted in different martensite morphologies, microstructures and mechanical properties. Theheat treatments were designed in such a way to obtain a 0.25 volume fraction of martensite (Vm). For thisreason, an intercritical temperature of 725 °C was applied. Furthermore, the tensile and impact propertieswere discussed. The results from the impact and tensile tests at different temperatures showed that theductile brittle transition temperatures for the DQ and SQ treatments were 49 and 6 °C respectively,while the DQ had better toughness.