Hardness values as well as yield and tensile strength values were compiled for over 150 nonaustenitic, hypoeutectoid steels having a wide range of compositions and a variety of microstructures. The microstructures include ferrite, pearlite, martensite, bainite, and complex multiphase structures. The yield strength of the steels ranged from approximately 300 MPa to over 1700 MPa. Tensile strength varied over the range of 450-2350 MPa. Regression analysis was used to determine the correlation of the yield strength and the tensile strength to the diamond pyramid hardness values for these steels. Both the yield strength and tensile strength of the steels exhibited a linear correlation with the hardness over the entire range of strength values. Empirical relationships are provided that enable the estimation of strength from a bulk hardness measurement. A weak effect of strain-hardening potential on the hardness-yield strength relationship was also observed.

The effect of strain rate on stress-strain behavior of austenitic stainless steel 309 and 304L was investigated. Tensile tests were conducted at room temperature at strain rates ranging from 1.25 ϫ 10 Ϫ4 s Ϫ1 to 400 s Ϫ1 . The evolution of volume fraction martensite that formed during plastic deformation was measured with X-ray diffraction and characterized with light microscopy. Alloy 304L was found to transform readily with strain, with martensite nucleating on slip bands and at slip band intersections. Alloy 309 did not exhibit strain-induced transformation. Variations in ductility and strength with strain rate are explained in terms of the competition between hardening, from the martensitic transformation and a positive strain rate sensitivity, and softening due to deformational heating. Existing models used to predict the increase in volume fraction martensite with strain were examined and modified to fit the experimental data of this study as well as recent data for alloys 304 and 301LN obtained from the literature.

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An empirical martensite kinetics model is proposed that both captures the sigmodial transformation behavior for alloy steels and remains computationally efficient. The model improves on the Koistinen and Marburger model and the van Bohemen and Sietsma model with a function that better represents the transformation rate, especially during the early stages. When compared with existing models, the proposed model exhibits better predictions of volume fraction of martensite. The proposed model also predicts various other transformation properties accurately, such as M 90 temperatures and retained austenite.

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The Bauschinger behavior after a strain reversal was evaluated for samples with microstructures representative of production sheets for a low-carbon (LC) steel, a high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel, and a dual-phase (DP) steel. The microstructures were produced in the samples by laboratory hot rolling and heat treatment. Bauschinger tests were run at strain rates of 0.0001, 0.001, and 0.01 s Ϫ1 , with tensile prestrains between 1 and 7 pct. After the reversal, the samples were strained 2 pct in compression. The Bauschinger effect is described by a Bauschinger effect parameter (BE), which is the difference between the steel strength at reversal and the 0.05 pct offset yield strength on the reversal, normalized by the steel strength at reversal. It is found that the Bauschinger effect is a continuous increasing function of the strength of the steel, provided the steel is prestrained at least 2.5 pct or beyond the yield point elongation. A single trend line describes the Bauschinger effect variation with steel strength, for all three steels in the present study and for an aluminum-killed drawing quality (AKDQ) steel from a previous investigation. No strain rate influence on the BE was found, due to the limited strain rate range and data uncertainty.