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ABSTRACT
Current hot stamped steels can offer ultra high strength (1500 MPa) with limited elongation (∼5%). Research is ongoing to develop hot stamped steels with similar strength and improved ductility by using various microstructural approaches. The current work describes in depth the characterisation of microstructural features of a steel that was processed via a quenching and partitioning method in a modified hot stamping thermal cycle to deliver a good combination of strength and ductility. It was found that the microstructure thus produced is very complex comprising many different phases. As it is also beyond the ability of one single technique to fully characterise it, several techniques were employed in order to properly understand the various features of the different constituents of this microstructure.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the management of Tata Steel Europe for giving us the approval for publishing this work. We also would like to thank S. Melzer, M. Rijnders and T. Phan Tran of Tata Steel Europe, the Netherlands for their kind help in carrying out the experimental work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
