Deformation behavior and microstructure of low carbon high manganese steels in tensile strain

The mechanical properties of two high manganese steels with manganese contents (15% and 25%) were investigated during tensile tests at room temperature. The results indicated that the strengths of steels were a little low and the elongations were improved greatly with increasing the manganese content. Stress fluctuations were found during tensile tests of the Fe-15Mn steels, and as the strain increased the range of stress fluctuations became wider. The strain hardening exponent n of samples changed with strain in a parabola model. The microstructures before and after deformation were investigated and the results showed that phase transformation of γ (fcc) →ε (hcp) and γ (fcc) →ε (hcp) →α (bcc) induced plasticity occurred in the Fe-15Mn steels. However, in the Fe-25Mn steels, at the beginning stage of the deformation, phase transformation induced plasticity played an important role, and with the increase of deformation, the main mechanism was twinning induced plasticity.