In this work, four low carbon steels with different contents of Mn and Ni were heat treated by quenching and partitioning (Q&P) cycles where high partitioning temperatures, in the range of 550 °C–650 °C, were applied. In order to elucidate the effect of applying these high partitioning temperatures with respect to more common Q&P cycles, the materials were also heat treated considering a partitioning temperature of 400 °C. The microstructure evolution during the Q&P cycles was studied by means of dilatometry tests. The microstructural characterization of the treated materials revealed that austenite retention strongly depended on the alloy content and partitioning conditions. It was shown that the occurrence of austenite reverse transformation (ART) in the partitioning stage in some of the alloys and conditions was a very effective mechanism to increase the austenite content in the final microstructure. However, the enhancement of tensile properties achieved by the application of high partitioning temperature cycles was not significant. @en

Steel with a nominal composition of 0.25C-1.5Si-3Mn-0.023Al (mass %) was subjected to Quenching and Partitioning (Q&P) with varying parameters (quenching temperature, partitioning temperature and partitioning time) resulting in formation of multi-phase microstructure, which was thoroughly studied using X-ray (XRD) and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD). Mechanical properties of the Q&P steel were measured by tensile tests. Plastic deformation of Q&P steel at micro-scale was investigated by in situ tensile testing and digital image correlation analysis. The effect of Q&P parameters on the microstructure (phase composition, size and volume fraction of micro constituents, texture and carbon content in retained austenite) is discussed. After analyzing the mechanical properties, plastic deformation at the micro-scale and the microstructure, it is shown that the strain partitioning between phases strongly depends on the microstructure of the Q&P steel, which, in turn, can be tuned via manipulation with Q&P parameters.

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