Property oriented design of hard constituent hardness and morphology in continuously annealed/galvanised DP sheets (VADPSHEETS) : final report

The main result of the VADPSheet project is the development of the validated computer tools for the prediction of the metallurgical changes occurring during Continuous Annealing process of DP steels sheets using, both, conventional approach based on JAMK equation and Cellular Automata - discrete model enabling the digital microstructure representation (DMR) at subsequent stages of the process. The main feature of the Cellular Automata discrete model is its capability of predicting the distribution of carbon in the microstructure of DP steels at subsequent stages of the continuous annealing/galvanizing process and as a result the effect of inhomogeneous distribution of this element in the microstructure on the final properties can be predicted. From the material point of view, new concepts of DP steels chemical compositions were defined. Besides, the new "necklace" mechanism of DP microstructure formation was identified for the first time and its impact of mechanical properties was investigated. The project results will be exploited in the development of high strength DP steels including DP600, DP780 and DP980.