Precipitation behavior of warm-rolled Ti-stabilized Interstitial-Free (IF) if steel sheets

Precipitates have great influence on the recrystallization, texture evolution and thus the final mechanical properties of the Interstitial-Free (IF) steel sheets, however, very few studies have dealt with the precipitation behavior of IF steels warm rolled in ferrite region. In the present work, the precipitate characteristics (type, morphology, size and amount) of warm-rolled ordinary Ti-stabilized Interstitial-Free (Ti-IF) steel and p-added high-strength Ti-IF steel were investigated by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Energy Dispersion Spectrometer (EDS). The results show that most precipitates in warm-rolled ordinary Ti-IF steels are TiN, TiS, Ti4C2S2 and TiC. Besides these precipitates, a great amount of FeTiP precipitates exist in warm-rolled P-added high-strength Ti-IF steel. The precipitation of FeTiP retards the migration of grain boundary in the recrystallization annealing, so the {111} texture and thus deep drawability of warm-rolled high-strength Ti-IF steel is deteriorated.