Room-Temperature Quenching and Partitioning Steel

The current study proposes a room-temperature quenching and partitioning (RT-Q&P) process to design new steels with an ultrahigh tensile strength (1.3 similar to 1.5 GPa) and a large total elongation (19 similar to 3 pct). This steel has a dual-phase microstructure with metastable austenite grains embedded in the martensite matrix. The martensitic transformation in retained austenite grains can not only provide the transformation-induced plasticity effect but also enable the strain gradient plasticity, enhancing the work hardening behavior of present steel.