Dislocation and twin substructure evolution during strain hardening of an Fe–22wt.% Mn–0.6wt.% C TWIP steel observed by electron channeling contrast imaging

We study the kinetics of the substructure evolution and its correspondence to the strain hardening evolution of an Fe–22 wt.% Mn–0.6 wt.% C TWIP steel during tensile deformation by means of electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) combined with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The contribution of twin and dislocation substructures to strain hardening is evaluated in terms of a dislocation mean free path approach involving several microstructure parameters, such as the characteristic average twin spacing and the dislocation substructure size. The analysis reveals that at the early stages of deformation (strain below 0.1 true strain) the dislocation substructure provides a high strain hardening rate with hardening coefficients of about G/40 (G is the shear modulus). At intermediate strains (below 0.3 true strain), the dislocation mean free path refinement due to deformation twinning results in a high strain rate with a hardening coefficient of about G/30. Finally, at high strains (above 0.4 true strain), the limited further refinement of the dislocation and twin substructures reduces the capability for trapping more dislocations inside the microstructure and, hence, the strain hardening decreases. Grains forming dislocation cells develop a self-organized and dynamically refined dislocation cell structure which follows the similitude principle but with a smaller similitude constant than that found in medium to high stacking fault energy alloys. We attribute this difference to the influence of the stacking fault energy on the mechanism of cell formation.