Correlations between nanoindentation hardness and macroscopic mechanical properties in DP980 steels

Nanoindentation measurements were obtained on eight commercially-produced DP980 dual-phase steels to quantify the hardness of the individual constituents, ferrite and martensite, in each steel. Each microstructure was also evaluated to determine grain size, martensite volume fraction (MVF), and retained austenite content. Nanoindentation hardnesses and quantitative microstructural measurements were correlated with tensile properties and performance in hole expansion tests to assess the importance of the individual constituent properties. Hole expansion samples were prepared with both sheared edges produced by mechanical punching, and non-deformed edges produced by electric discharge machining (EDM). Average material hardness based on nanoindentation data correlated directly to Vickers hardness measurements, verifying the capability of the nanoindentation technique to produce data consistent with traditional hardness measurements. Yield strength (YS) correlated directly to ferrite hardness indicating that, for a similar MVF and microstructural morphology, the YS is controlled by the strength of the softer matrix phase (ferrite). Hole expansion ratios (HER) on EDM samples decreased with an increase in both martensite and ferrite hardness, indicating that EDM HER values can be enhanced by softening both constituents. Punched-hole HER values decreased with increasing martensite hardness and martensite-to-ferrite hardness ratio, but were independent of ferrite hardness, indicating that softening the martensite while increasing the ferrite hardness could produce a higher HER. & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.