Materials Science and Technology

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Characteristics of advanced high-strength steels

obtained by the compact strip production route

Francisco A. Pérez-González, Javier H. Ramírez-Ramírez, Luis E. Hernández,

Miguel A. Quiñones, Nelson F. Garza-Montes-de-Oca & Rafael Colás

To cite this article: Francisco A. Pérez-González, Javier H. Ramírez-Ramírez, Luis E. Hernández,

Miguel A. Quiñones, Nelson F. Garza-Montes-de-Oca & Rafael Colás (2023) Characteristics of
advanced high-strength steels obtained by the compact strip production route, Materials Science
and Technology, 39:3, 327-337, DOI: 10.1080/02670836.2022.2111116

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02670836.2022.2111116

Published online: 22 Aug 2022.

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MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2023, VOL. 39, NO. 3, 327–337
https://doi.org/10.1080/02670836.2022.2111116

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Characteristics of advanced high-strength steels obtained by the compact strip

production route
Francisco A. Pérez-Gonzáleza , Javier H. Ramírez-Ramíreza , Luis E. Hernándezb , Miguel A. Quiñonesb ,
Nelson F. Garza-Montes-de-Ocaa and Rafael Colás a
a Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, México; b Metalsa, S.A. de
C.V., Apodaca, México

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Advanced high-strength steels are used in structural components of automobiles to reduce Received 2 February 2022
their weight, fuel consumption and green-house gas emissions. Their properties result from Revised 25 May 2022
tailoring their chemical composition and processing conditions to obtain microstructures con- Accepted 3 August 2022
sisting of a variety of hard and soft components. This work presents the analyses conducted KEYWORDS
on steels produced by continuous casting into thin moulds and hot rolling directly to the final Steel; microstructure;
shape. The microstructure was studied by microscopical techniques; the phase transformations modelling; mechanical
occurring were assessed with the aid of commercial and dedicated computer programs. The properties; stress–strain
stress–strain curves were fitted to different constitutive equations. It was found that the mechan- curves
ical characteristics differed due to the strategies in design and production followed by the
steelmaker.

Introduction
Regulations imposed to reduce fuel consumption, and
their corresponding effect on emission of green-house
gases, in light and heavy-duty vehicles, have promoted
the development of materials with enhanced mechan-
ical properties that are used in the manufacture of
structural components. Such improvement in fuel con-
sumption will result as consequence in diminishing
the weight and size of components manufactured with
better and stronger materials [1,2]. The iron and steel
industry has responded by offering advanced high-
strength steels (AHSS), in which chemical composition
and processing conditions are tailored to obtain vari-
ous microstructures made of a wide range hard and soft
components that are responsible for enhancing their
strength [3,4].
AHSS are cast, hot-rolled, cooled in the run-out table
and coiled [3,4]. Most of these steels are cast in conven-
tional moulds where the surface freezes rapidly, while
the centre solidifies at a lower rate. Such differences in
cooling and solidification rates promote the enrichment
of alloying elements towards the centre of the slab in
what is known as central segregation, or macrosegre-
gation, that cannot be removed from the final product
due to the high temperatures and long times required
to homogenise the steel by diffusion [5,6]. It has been
reported that central segregation enhances the yield and
ultimate strength of the steel, but affects in a negative
way its formability, ductility and impact toughness
[7–12].
An alternative to casting in conventional moulds is
that of thin-slab casting in which the steel is poured
into moulds that produce slabs that range from 50 to
90 mm in thickness, in contrast to conventional moulds
that produce slabs of 250–350 mm. The faster solid-
ification rate that takes place within thinner sections
promotes microstructural refining and the reduction of
the central line segregation [13–15]. A further advan-
tage that the thin-slab casting technology offers is the
reduction of size of the processing line by connect-
ing the caster with continuous reheating furnaces and
the rolling-mill [15–18]. The surface quality of the
rolled strip is assured by the design of descaling prac-
tice that takes place before the stock enters the rolling
mill [18].
The aim of this work is to study the behaviour of
samples from two different AHSS produced by the
thin-slab route; the microstructure was analysed by
microscopical techniques, their mechanical behaviour
was studied by means of tension tests conducted along
three different directions in hot-rolled sheets. The
stress–strain curves were fitted to different constitu-
tive equations. This study was conducted as these steels
are demanded by the automotive industry to reduce
the weight and fuel consumption of vehicles without
affecting safety uses.

CONTACT Rafael Colás colas.rafael@gmail.com Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, 66455 San
Nicolás de los Garza, México

© 2022 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

328 F. A. PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ ET AL.

Experimental procedure microstructures observed by means of LOM of both

steels towards the centre and surface of the strips at dif-
The microstructure and mechanical properties of two
ferent magnifications. The rolling direction is indicated
AHSS, which will be identified in this work as A and B
by the arrow. The microstructural finesse in both sam-
steels, were studied in their hot-rolling conditions. The
ples does not allow identifying different constituents,
chemical composition of both steels is shown in Table 1.
although a cuboid precipitate is pointed out towards the
The steel strips studied were in their hot-rolled con-
centre of strip B; EDX by SEM shows that such pre-
dition and had a nominal thickness of 3.6 mm. Three
cipitates are made of TiN, as will be discussed later.
tensile samples from both steels were cut and machined
Figure 2 shows SEM in SE micrographs for both steels
along the rolling, at 45° to it and transversal direc-
in regions close to the centre and to the surface, the
tions, which will be identified as 0°, 45° and 90° to the
microstructural constituents that were identified were
rolling direction. The dimensions of the tensile samples
ferrite (F), bainite (B) and martensite (M), the rolling
were of 12.7 mm in width and 50 mm in gauge length;
direction is indicated. Figure 3 shows images corre-
the samples were tested following the ASTM E8/E8M
sponding to the EBSD analyses of samples from steels
standard [19].
A and B in locations close to the surface of the strip
A commercial thermodynamic and kinetics com-
and at their centres, it was possible to identify the
puter program [20] was used to study the solidifica-
presence of martensite (M), carbides (C) and ferrite
tion kinetics and the continuous cooling transforma-
(F), but it was not possible to differentiate if this last
tion (CCT) diagram of the steel to deduce the feasi-
component formed part of bainite or ferrite. The vol-
bility of encountering different microstructural com-
ume fractions of the different constituents are shown in
ponents expected to occur within the strips. Different
Table 2. EDX area analyses were conducted towards the
computer models were used to evaluate the microstruc-
centre and close to the surface in both types of steels
tural and thermal conditions within the steels as they
to discern about the tendency for central segregation.
were hot-rolled and cooled through the run-out table
Figure 4 shows SE images from SEM of steels A and B
[16,17,21,22].
close to the centre (C) and surface (S), the EDX spec-
Samples from both steels were prepared for their
tra shown in this figure confirm the absence of such
microstructural observation by light optical and scan-
segregation.
ning electron microscopy (LOM and SEM, respec-
Three tensile samples for each condition were tested,
tively). SEM observations were made in secondary
but only one of each was deformed to fracture, as
and back-scattered electron (SE and BE, respectively)
one of them was deformed up to the point of maxi-
modes as well as selected energy-dispersive X-ray spec-
mum load, which corresponds to the ultimate tensile
troscopy (EDX) analyses. Some samples were pre-
strength (UTS), and the third specimen was deformed
pared for their observation by means of electron back-
beyond that point but before breaking to analyse the
scattered diffraction (EBSD) to identify the various
deformation behaviour in the materials. The load-
microstructural constituents [23].
displacement data from the tests were converted into
real stress–strain curves by assuming constancy of vol-
ume. Figures 5 and 6 shows the stress–strain curves
Results
(full lines) for the steels that were tested to fracture for
The chemical composition of the steels, Table 1, steels A and B, respectively; the curves from samples cut
suggests that the strategy followed to achieve the along the three directions (0°, 45° and 90°) were plotted
required mechanical properties differs in either steel. separately in a, b and c graphs, respectively. It should
The amount of carbon in either case is similar as be mentioned that the shape of the stress–strain curves
both were cast in thin slab moulds and the peritectic for steel A reflects that of multiphase AHSS, as they
composition is avoided [24,25]. Steel A has a higher do not show an abrupt yield point phenomenon and
content on alloying elements such as Mn, Si, Cr, Ni exhibit a high strengthening rate after yielding, whereas
and Mo that will retard the transformation of austen- the shape of steel B resembles that of a high-strength
ite after hot rolling [3,4,26]; steel B is alloyed with low alloy (HSLA) steel in the sense that they exhibit
Mn and Si, to retard the transformations, and contains the yield point or Lüders phenomenon and a lower
higher amounts of N and Ti to strengthen by precip- strengthening rate towards the early stages of plastic
itation of TiN particles [12,27]. Figure 1 shows the deformation [3,4].

Table 1. Chemical composition of the steels (% mass).

Steel C Mn P S Cu Ni Si Cr Al Ti Mo N
A 0.065 1.871 0.014 0.002 0.079 0.178 0.532 0.831 0.041 0.015 0.268 0.0074
B 0.056 1.123 0.008 0.002 0.085 0.035 0.257 0.067 0.053 0.141 0.042 0.0092

Figure 1. LOM images of steels A and B at their centre (C) and close to the surface of the strip (S) at different magnifications. The
rolling direction and a cuboid particle towards the centre of steel B are indicated.
Each curve was fit to equations of the power type
proposed by Hollomon [28]:
σ = k · εn
where σ is the stress, ε the strain, and n and k are the
straining exponent and coefficient that are obtained by
fitting the plastic deformation region, Figures 7 and
8. Each experimental curve was also fit to exponential
relationship proposed by Voce [29]:
σ = σo + (σs − σo ) exp(−Cε)
where σ s is the saturation or steady state stress, σ o
the yield strength and C a coefficient determined from
the experimental data. The dashed curves adjusted to
Equations (1) and (2) are shown together with the
experimental ones.
MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 329
The values of strain and stress corresponding to the
yield and UTS for each testing condition are indicated
in their corresponding curve; two points are associ-
(1) ated to yielding in steel B, Figure 5, due to the Lüders
effect that is observed in the stress–strain curves, the
first one corresponds to what is called the lower yield
point, whereas the second one is plotted where proper
homogeneous deformation starts (ε l ); Lüders effect is
associated in carbon steels to the interaction of intersti-
tial atoms and dislocations and is known as strain aging
(2) [30,31]. Figures 5 and 6 show the straight lines that are
obtained by fitting stress–strain data in a double log-
arithm plot to obtain the parameters of Equation (1).
The strain domain for these adjustments was that from
yielding to UTS in the case of steel A and from the start
of homogeneous deformation (ε l ) to UTS in the case of
steel B.
330 F. A. PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ ET AL.
Figure 2. SEM images of steels A and B at their centre (C) and close to the surface of the strip (S). The constituents indicated
correspond to ferrite (F), bainite (B) and martensite (M); the rolling direction is indicated.
The value of the hardening rate (dσ /dε) is plotted
as a function of the stress for each experimental con-
dition, Figure 9. This relationship yields to curves that
exhibit a continuous decrease in hardening rate as the
stress increases; a straight line in the dσ /dε – σ relation-
ship was adjusted as the curve approaches Considère’s
criterion expressed by dσ /dε = σ [31]. The slope of
this straight line is equal to parameter C in Equation (2),
the strength at which dσ /dε = 0 is the saturation stress
σ s , which is indicated by small arrows in Figure 9.
The values for yield stress (σ y ), ultimate tensile
strength (σ u ), uniform elongation strain (ε u ), strain to
the end of Lüders effect (ε l , only for steel B), elonga-
tion (l) and reduction in area (RA) to fracture, as well
as those for n, k, σ o , σ s , and C are shown in Table 3.
It should be mentioned that n and ε u should be equal
for a material that fulfils Hollomon’s equation (1), in
agreement with Considère’s criterion [32].
Discussion
It was mentioned in the preceding section that the
chemical composition in both steels differs to achieve
the required characteristics, although the carbon con-
tent is kept well below that of the peritectic reaction
[24,25], Table 1. Steel A contains higher amounts of Cr
and Mo to enhance the transformation of austenite into
bainite and martensite on cooling. Ti is added to Steel
B to promote the formation of TiN; the amount of both
elements is such that will promote precipitation of TiN
in the melt before the formation of δ-ferrite. Figure 10
shows the transformations that would occur during
solidification due to the chemistry of the steels. These
transformations were predicted by a thermodynamic
and kinetics-based software [20]; the simulation was
ended at 1400°C. The critical temperatures for the reac-
tions taking place during solidification are summarised
in Table 4.
Start of precipitation of TiN was predicted at 1481.0
and 1530.8°C for steels A and B, respectively, which fall
within the range computed from the solubility products
given by equations of the type:
log([N][Ti]) = −α/T + β (3)
where the amounts of [N] and [Ti] are expressed in
mass per cent, T is the absolute temperature and α and
 MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 331

Figure 3. Images from steels A and B in regions close to the surface (S) and centre (C) of the strips. The analyses put in evidence the
presence of ferrite, martensite and carbides. The rolling direction (RD) is indicated.

Table 2. Microstructural constituents measured by SEM and
EBSD.
Steel Location Constituent SEM EBSD
A Centre F 0.60 0.756
B 0.30 – Figure 11. The critical temperatures (A1 , A3 and Ms )
M 0.10 0.179
C – 0.064
Surface F 0.70 0.705
B 0.25 –
M 0.05 0.164
C – 0.053
B Centre F 0.25 0.571
B 0.70 –
M 0.05 0.125
C – 0.303
Surface F 0.24 0.665
B 0.68 – the values predicted by modelling hot rolling of steel
M 0.08 0.158
C – 0.177
Note: Ferrite (F), Bainite (B), Martensite (M), Carbides (C).
β are equilibrium coefficients. Table 5 shows the tem-
peratures calculated from the chemical composition of
the steel using the coefficients reported by different
authors [33–36].
The transformation of the strips during the run-
out table cooling was simulated with the aid of the
software mentioned above [20] feeding their composi-
tions. The software predicts the temperatures at which
transformation to ferrite, pearlite and bainite start as
a function of the cooling rate, identified as Fs , Ps and
Bs , respectively, and at which the transformation to
pearlite and bainite finish, Pf and Bf , respectively. The
CCT diagrams for both compositions are shown in
are shown in this figure and in Table 5. The greater
content in alloying elements in steel A promotes the
shifts of curves corresponding to Fs , Ps , Bs , Pf and
Bf to higher times and would result in delaying the
occurrence of such microstructures. The CCT diagram
was calculated using a finish rolling temperature of
900°C and an austenite grain size of 20 μm, which were
[16,21,22]. The cooling curves at the surface and cen-
tre of a 3.6 mm strip are shown in Figure 11. These
curves were obtained from a heat transfer model devel-
oped to compute the temperature distribution within
steel strips that are being cooled within a run-out table
[17]; the cooling time in the run-out table was set as
30 s; coiling was predicted to occur at 593°C. These
results confirm the microscopical observations shown
in Figures 1–3 and in Table 2 in the sense that both steels
will transform into a mixed microstructure made of fer-
rite, bainite and martensite; the highest alloying content
of steel A will result in a higher amount of martensite in
comparison with steel B, as it is presented in Table 2. No
332 F. A. PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ ET AL.

Figure 4. SE images of samples of steels A and B at their centre (C) and close to the surface (S) together with EDX area analyses that
show the absence of central segregation.

Figure 5. Stress–strain curves from samples from steel A cut
and tested at 0 (a), 45 (b) and 90° (c) with respect to the rolling
direction (full lines); the dotted curves correspond to their fitting
to equations (1) and (2).
Figure 6. Stress–strain curves from samples from steel B cut
and tested at 0 (a), 45 (b) and 90° (c) with respect to the rolling
direction (full lines); the dotted curves correspond to their fitting
to equations (1) and (2). The end of Lüders strain is indicated as
εl .

pearlite was found in the micrographs, and this may be

due to the low carbon content of the steels (0.065 and
0.056, respectively, for steels A and B), Table 1.
It was pointed out in Figure 1 the presence of a
coarse particle towards the centre of steel B; EDX anal-
yses conducted in such particles revealed that they are
made of TiN, Figure 12. Extensive observations by SEM
were carried out in both steels in locations close to
their centres and surfaces to record the size of dis-
tribution of such particles. The distances between the
TiN particles were analysed by recording their coor-
dinates from SEM micrographs and calculating the
distance between close neighbours following the pro-
cedure described elsewhere [37]. Figure 13 shows that Figure 7. Double logarithm plot of the stress–strain values to
obtain the n and k parameters of equation (1) for steel A.
the distance between precipitates is smaller in sam-
ples from steel B, as may be expected from the smaller
volume fraction obtained from the solidification analy- the strip, and this may be due to the lower solidifi-
ses, Table 5; it was observed that the distances between cation rates occurring towards the centre of the slab
closer neighbours was smaller towards the centre of [35], which allow for the alloying elements to segregate.
 MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 333

Figure 8. Double logarithm plot of the stress–strain values to Figure 10. Solidification reactions for A and B steels as pre-
obtain the n and k parameters of equation (1) for steel B. The dicted by the thermodynamic and kinetics-based software.
end of Lüders strain is indicated as ε l .

the whole population and of the bigger and smaller

Figure 9. Plot of the hardening rate (dσ /dε) as a function of
stress for steels A and B. The straight line fitted to the experi-
mental data allows for determining σ s , and C.
The size of the TiN precipitates was characterised by
their area, and it was analysed their distribution assum-
ing it to follow a log-normal scale. The results shown
in Figure 14 indicate that the particles in steel A fol-
low a single distribution, whereas those from steel B
follow a bimodal distribution, therefore the average of
distributions are shown; what is of interest is that the
average area size of the precipitates in steel A is close
to the size of the smaller population of steel B. Such
behaviour may be explained by observing Figure 15,
where the temperatures predicted for the precipitation
of TiN particles using Equation (3) with the coefficients
from Turkdogan [33] are shown as a function of the
chemical composition of the steels. It can be appreciated
that the chemical composition of steel B will allow for
precipitation to take place while the steel is liquid and
the particles will be able to grow, therefore the bigger
size population. Precipitation of TiN will proceed in
steel A at a lower temperature, as well as in steel B,
therefore the similarity in size of the smaller precipi-
tates, which are sought after to enhance the mechanical
properties of the steels [12,27,35].
Figures 16 and 17 show, respectively, the properties
associated to strain and stress, respectively, from the
tensile tests in both steels. It is appreciated that steel A is
more ductile when the sample is cut at 45° to the rolling
direction, but this does not hold for steel B as the sample
tested along the rolling direction results to be more duc-
tile, Figure 16. The occurrence of a Lüders type effect

Table 3. Mechanical properties of the steel strips.

Steel A B
Inclination to
rolling 0° 45° 90° 0° 45° 90°
εy 0.005 0.005 0.005 0.008 0.006 0.005
εl – – – 0.022 0.031 0.032
σy 726.2 692.9 726.3 769.0 779.5 801.9
εu 0.071 0.089 0.072 0.128 0.125 0.100
σu 1035.8 1019.9 1027.8 936.5 919.2 931.6
l 0.091 0.113 0.092 0.154 0.152 0.123
RA 0.437 0.507 0.440 0.761 0.691 0.635
n 0.120 0.124 0.121 0.107 0.107 0.097
k 1466.3 1415.5 1448.4 1172.2 1148.9 1169.6
ε u /n 0.592 0.718 0.595 1.196 1.168 1.031
σo 726.2 692.9 726.3 726.0 724.0 730.0
σs 1067.0 1040.6 1044.8 1006.4 984.9 998.0
C 39.04 31.66 40.04 11.87 11.87 14.24
Note: σ y , σ u , k, σ o and σ s in MPa; n and k parameters in Equation (1); σ o , σ s and C parameters in Equation (2)
334 F. A. PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ ET AL.

Table 4. Solidification reactions taken place in the steels.

A B
Constituent T (C) Vf T (C) Vf T (C) Vf T (C) Vf
Liquid 1510.2 1 1470.3 0 1530.8 1 1482.4 0
δ ferrite 1510.2 0 1485.4 1 1520.3 0 1481.9 1
δ ferrite 1474.3 1 1427.1 0 1468.3 1 1428.8 0
Austenite 1474.3 0 1400.0 1 1468.3 0 1400.0 1
TiN 1481.0 0 1400.0 1.21·10−3 1530.8 0 1400.0 4.56·10−3

Table 5. Temperatures for start of precipitation of TiN for steels the samples tested in the transverse direction to rolling
A and B. (90°). Figure 17 shows that yielding occurs at a lower
Coefficients in Equqation (3) Steel stress in steel A in comparison to the other material,
Authors α β A B but its strengthening to the UTS value is much higher.
Turkdogan [32] 15,790 5.40 1414.9 1632.4 Figure 18 compares the values of the strain and stress to
Kunze [33] 17,640 6.17 1469.3 1674.7 the point of maximum load of the steels studied in this
Cui et al. [34]
Capurro and Cicutti [35]
16,586
17,040
5.90
6.40
1410.1
1372.6
1614.6
1561.8
work (A and B) with unpublished results of steel sam-
ples obtained from sheets obtained from conventional,
thick, slabs, it can be appreciated that the data points
follow a similar behaviour.
Figures 5 and 6 show the experimental stress–strain
curves for both steels and their fitting to constitu-
tive equations of the power and exponential type.
Figure 5 shows that fitting the data to power relation-
ship, Equation (1), does only agree within a short strain
domain, whereas that to exponential type (2) agrees
over the yielding to UTS straining domain. Moreover,
Equation (2) has been justified in terms of the changes
that take over dislocation arrangement as a result of the
equilibrium between the dislocations being created to
sustain the plastic deformation and their annihilation
by restoration mechanisms [38–40] and has been used
in analyses of plastic deformation in complex multi-
Figure 11. Continuous cooling transformation for steels A and
B and the computed temperatures at the centre and surface of phase steels [41–43]. Use of power type of equation (1)
the strip using the model described elsewhere [16]. has been criticised by their limitations in covering the
full range of plastic strain and that they predict infinite
strength [44]. In some cases, the stress–strain curve has
been fitted into various segments, each with different
values for parameters k and n [45,46]. Figure 6 shows
that both types of equations fit with accuracy the exper-
imental data once the Lüders strain has been surpassed.
The proximity of the values of exponent n and that for
the strain to the UTS in this steel confirm the fitting
of this material to power type equations. In all cases,
the fittings to either equation between the yield point
and the end of Lüders strain are underestimated. The
biggest divergence occurs in the case of Equation (2),
as parameter σ o is lower than the yield strength (σ y ),
Table 3. Such difference may point to the strengthening
that results in steel B due to the amount of nitrogen and
Figure 12. EDX spectrum of a TiN particle found towards the carbon in solution, rather than combined with titanium
centre of strip B. or other alloying elements.

taking place in steel B was stated when Figures 6 and

9 were first mentioned, and the contribution of such
effect is significant in terms of the total strain that the
material sustains, the strain involved in such effect may
be detrimental to the total straining, as it is shown for
Conclusions
The steels that were studied were designed to fulfil the
requirements demanded by AHSS, as both are made
of multiple microstructural constituents such as ferrite,

Figure 13. TiN precipitates in samples from steels A (a and b) and B (c and d) close to the centre (a and c) or surface (b and d) of the
strips. The straight lines connect the closest neighbours.
Figure 14. Particle area distribution of TiN precipitates found in
steels A and B.
bainite and martensite. Both steels were made by the
thin slab casting and direct hot-rolling route and had
limited amounts of carbon, the rate of solidification of
the casting process suppresses the segregation at the
centre of the slab. Steel A relied on the increase of alloy-
ing elements that would retard the transformation of
the steel into ferrite while cooling in the run-out table;
steel B has also alloyed with elements that contribute
MATERIALS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 335
Figure 15. Temperatures for the precipitation of TiN as a func-
tion of their contents as calculated with the coefficients pro-
posed by Turkdogan [31]. The points corresponding to steels A
and B are shown. The solidification temperature of 1538° for iron
is indicated [23].
to retarding the transformation to ferrite, but with lim-
ited contents. The results obtained show a similar trend
observed in samples obtained from conventional cast
steels.
Both steels had added Ti and N to promote the pre-
cipitation of TiN particles to increase their strength, but
the higher amounts of both in steel B may promote their
336 F. A. PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ ET AL.
Figure 16. Changes in properties related to the strain in both
steels in different testing directions.
Figure 17. Changes in properties related to the strength in
both steels in different testing directions.
Figure 18. Comparison of the values of strain and stress to the
point in maximum load obtained from samples obtained from
casting in thin and thick slabs.
precipitation in the liquid state before that that would
take place during hot-rolling or even during cooling
in the run-out table. As a result of this, TiN area size
distribution in steel B shows to be bimodal.
The experimental stress–strain curves were fitted to
equations of the power and exponential type. The expo-
nential equation was found to reproduce the curves of
steel A. The plastic behaviour of steel B was found to be
well fitted by either type of curve, but the strength was
underestimated by both equations in the Lüders band
region.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
ORCID
Rafael Colás http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6017-7244
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