Lecture 16

IF (interstitial free) Steels

1. Introduction
- some 40 years have passed since modern IF steels
began
- IF steels are free from interstitial atoms causing
problems in drawability and aging
- gettering elements such as Nb, Ti, V, and B are
added to catch C and N
Ex) Ti(C,N), Nb(C,N), V(C,N), B(C,N)
- IF steels are widely used for automotives because of
good formability

(see example of IF steels)

1
Example of IF Steel Grades

2
 2. Manufacturing of IF Steels
- carbon content is reduced to 20 ppm in order to improve formability
and avoid aging
- IF steels are annealed at high temperature above 800 ℃ after cold
rolling

- Ti is preferably to fix interstitial solutes such as C and N

effective Ti % = Ti (%) – (4C+3.43N) (%)
3
3. Super Formability of IF Steels

1) Background
Grades of formable steels
- sheet steels with super press
formability are preferred for
automotives parts such
complicated shapes
- target grade of super formable
sheet is
r bar ≥ 2.5 and n ≥ 0.25,
-as seen in figure showing
grades of formable steels
* r is Lankford value, drawability
r = lnw/w0/lnt/t0,
r bar = (r0+2r45+r90)/4
* n is work hardening index
σ = Cε n
4
2) Metallurgical concept
-
● crystallographic texture is determining r value and thus
ND//<111> is most preferable
● principle to enhance density of ND//<111> is
summarized in
① steel making; C ≤ 20 ppm, N ≤ 20 ppm, Ti addition
② hot rolling;
- low slab reheating temperature
- grain refinement
- rapid cooling just after finishing above Ar3
③ cold rolling; high reduction rolling
④ continuous annealing; high temperature annealing
● grain growth after recrystallization is essential to
increase ND//<111> texture
● reduction of solute content and coarsening of
precipitates are helpful for grain growth 5
3) Improvement of r value
 grain refinement of hot strip leads to remarkable
improvement of r value

6
 controlling of precipitates to improve r value

- grain size is greatly affected by precipitates

- precipitates in Ti added steel: TiN, TiS, TiC, Ti4C2S2
- Ti4C2S2 particle is most effective for grain refinement,
because Ti4C2S2 is precipitated on γ region and thus
inhibits γ growth, but TiC is precipitated in α region
- low slab reheating temperature prevents precipitation of
fine TiC
- solubility product of TiC and Ti4C2S2 in austenite,

log[Ti][S] = -3252/T – 2.01

log[Ti][C]0.5[S]0.5 = -5208/T - 0.78

7
4. Strengthening Mechanism of IF Steels

 strengthening in IF steels is derived primarily by grain

refinement, solid solution, cold work, crystallographic
texture, and precipitation responsible for gettering
interstitials
 effects of grain size on flow stress are described by
Hall-Petch relationship
σy = σ0 + kd-1/2
σ0 = σi + σss + σD + σppt

where σi is friction stress

σss is solid solution
σD is strengthening from dislocation substructure
σppt is precipitation hardening
8
 grain size strengthening models are grouped in two
categories;
① dislocation pile-up model : stress concentration at
slip bands or grain boundaries
② dislocation density model : flow stress is function of
average dislocation density according to

τ = τ i + αGbρ 1/2 τ : shear stress

τ i : friction stress
G : shear modulus
b : Burgers vector
ρ : dislocation dendity
α : constant

☞ grain boundaries increase dislocation density and thus

overall dislocation density increases with decrease of
grain size 9
 k value differs depending on model;

(a) dislocation pile-up model

k = m2τ dr1/2/2
r: distance ahead of slip band
τ d: critical shear stress for dislocation generation
m: Taylor orientation factor (sinx cosλ )-1
x: angle between tensile axis and slip direction
λ : angle between tensile axis and slip plane
(b) dislocation density model – grain boundary sources

k = αGb(8ρ L/п)1/2
ρ L : dislocation line length per unit area
(c) dislocation density model – geometrically necessary dislocations

k = CG(4beS)1/2
C: constant
eS : shear strain
10
 Hall-Petch parameter “k” in IF steels depends on annealing
condition as

k = 19.6 MPa for annealing ferrite

k = 33.3 MPa for annealing austenite
σ0 = 25 MPa

☞ higher k value is because of

presence of substructure inheriting
within ferrite grain after cooling

● solid solution strengthening

in IF steels

- solid solution alloys increase

strength as seen in Fig

11
- strength increase of alloy addition correlates with
atom size misfit

☞ - large size difference between solute and solvent produces

large elastic strain setting up around each solute atom in
solid solution
- if size difference is more than 15 %, solubility is very limited

12
5. Grain Size Control of IF Steels
 Grain size control is performed
by recrystallization annealing,
controlled rolling, and alloying
 Recrystallized grain size in IF
steels varies between 5 and 20
㎛, and finer grains are obtained
on Nb bearing steel compared to
Ti added steels
 Addition of Nb, Mo, and B to IF
steels produces fine acicular
ferrite grain structure,
and retain higher dislocation
density in ferrite (see figure)
1) at low temperature of 650 ℃
- solute C is high, independent
of Nb : C ratio

13
2) at higher temperature of 770 ℃
- for Nb/C greater than 0.8, solute C is zero and YS is
constant
- however, for Nb/C ratio less than 0.8, solute C
depends on Nb /C ratio and YS increases with C

6. Role of Solutes in IF Steels

1) solute carbon
- solute C influences both matrix strength and grain size
strengthening
● increase of matrix strength is caused by “Cottrell

atmosphere” formed by C segregation around dislocation

during strain aging
C Cottrell atmosphere
C C
C┻ C C trapping dislocation
C CC 14
 - grain size effect varies depending on concentration of
solute C at ferrite grain boundaries
2) solute P
- P increases flow stress over entire range of deformation
temperatures from 1100 ℃ to Ar3

- P from 20 to 600 ppm leads to flow stress higher by

15
10 % at 900 ℃ than base steel
-P increases strength of IF steels through both solid
solution hardening of matrix and by increasing grain size
hardening component by increasing Hall-Petch slope, k

solid solution hardening by P grain size hardening by P

16
7. Texture Development in IF Steels

 Deep drawability is associated with high r values and r

value is optimized when texture is developed by {111}
planes lying parallel to plane of sheet
☞ this orientation is ND//<111> fibre texture → γ fibre
 Typical texture in IF steels
γ fibre: (111)[1-10], (111)[0-11], (111)[-1-12]
υ2 = 45°, υ1= 0 - 90°
α fibre: (001)[1-10], (112)[1-10],
common [1-10] direction; υ1 = 0°, Ф = 55°
parallel with rolling direction
 Typical cold rolling textures in IF steels are γ fibre and α
fibre. These fibres become stronger with increase of
reduction
17
Euler Space of BCC Steel

18
 Texture after recrystallization reveals stronger γ fibre
while α fibre is almost elimanated

ODF of IF steels

(a)

(c)

(b)

19
 Nucleation of γ fibre texture during recrystallization is
caused by growth of highly misoriented subgrains.

☞ - creation of these misorientations is associated with

local inhomogeneous deformation such as shear
bands.
- deformation substructure in IF steel shows average
misorientation of 10° which can give rise to (111)
nuclei, but misorientatin less than 2° can not
necleate (111) texture

-End-
20