Effect of Vanadium on the Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Medium-Mn Steels

The automotiveAutomotive industry faces the challengeChallenges of enhancing fuel efficiency while meeting global environmental regulations concerning emissions. Thus, advanced high-strength steelsAdvanced high-strength steels (AHSS) recently gained significant attention due to their improved combination of strength and ductility compared to conventional steelsSteel, allowing the manufacturing of lighter body-in-white assemblies. Among the AHSS, medium-manganeseManganese steelsSteel, which contain 3–12 wt% Mn and belong to the third-generation category, are of great interest. Since the mechanical and microstructural properties of medium-manganeseManganese steelsSteel rely heavily on the amount and stability of retained austeniteRetained austenite, the impact of adding vanadium, ranging from 0 to 0.75 wt%, was explored. The results showed that the microstructureMicrostructure of the microalloyed medium-Mn steelsSteel consists of martensite and retained austeniteRetained austenite phases. The findings also revealed that increasing the vanadium content led to an increase in the proportion of retained austeniteRetained austenite coupled with the refinement of austenite grain size.