The room-temperature stability of the retained austenite against strain-induced martensitic transformation, its deformation behavior, the response to the bainitic isothermal treatment, the appearance of yield point elongation and other peculiarities of plastic flow, and the mechanical properties of transformation-induced plasticity(TRIP) steel were tailored based on the chemical homogeneity and the relative distribution of the retained austenite, bainite, and ferrite in the microstructure. The presence of ferritic-pearlitic banded structure in the initial microstructure resulted in an inhomogeneous TRIP microstructure, in which the retained austenite and bainite were confined to some bands and it was found to be responsible for the resultant inferior mechanical properties. The appearance of discontinuous yielding for the chemically inhomogeneous material was related to the martensitic transformation of unstable retained austenite at the initial stage of tensile deformation. These results are essential for better understanding of the behavior of advanced high-strength steels and their applications.
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