New insights into the properties of high manganese steel

Abstract: 

In the Collaborative Research Centre 761 "Steel ab initio - quantum mechanics guideddesign of new Fe based materials", scientists and engineers from RWTHAachen University and the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research have conductedresearch on mechanism-controlled material development with the particularexample of high manganese alloyed steels. From 2007 to 2019, a total of 55 partprojects and 4 transfer projects with industrial participation (some runninguntil 2021) have dealt with material and process design as well as materialcharacterization. The basic idea of the Collaborative Research Centre was todevelop a methodologically new approach for the design of structural materials. 

This paper focuses on selected results with respect tothe mechanical properties of high manganese steels, the underlying physicalphenomena, and on specific characterization and modelling tools for this newclass of materials. It is worked out that these steels have a microstructurethat has to be characterized with modern methods on the nm-scale. Regarding theprocess routes, the generation of segregations must be taken into account.Finally, the mechanical properties show a characteristic temperature dependenceand contain peculiarities in the fracture behavior. The mechanical propertiesand especially the bake hardening are affected by short-range ordering phenomena.The strain hardening can be adjusted in a so far not possible scope which makethese steels attractive for demanding sheet steel applications.