Data for: Enhancement of mechanical properties of low carbon dual phase steel via natural aging
Description
The natural aging behavior of a low carbon dual phase (DP) steel was studied and the effects of martensite content and ferrite grain size were taken into account. The enhancement of strength and hardness by aging at room temperature was related to quench aging by the precipitation of carbides in the ferrite grains. It was revealed that increasing the intercritical annealing temperature diminishes the quench aging effect, which was related to the decreased degree of supersaturation of carbon in ferrite. The maximum quench aging effect was observed by annealing the ferritic-pearlitic steel at a temperature close to the eutectoid temperature where the solute carbon content of ferrite reaches the maximum value. However, in contrast to aged DP steels, the tensile stress-strain curves showed yield-point phenomenon. It was also revealed that increasing grain size is in favor of quench aging.