Correlation between the Macroscopic Behavior and the

Microstructural Evolutions during Large Plastic Deformation

of a Dual-Phase Steel
B. GARDEY, S. BOUVIER, and B. BACROIX

The aim of the present work is the analysis of the evolution of the microstructure and texture of a dual-
phase steel in connection with the macroscopic behavior. Two-stage sequences are carried out in order
to investigate the effect of strain-path changes, both at the macroscopic and the microscopic scales. The
goal is the achievement of a more comprehensive explanation of the anisotropic behavior under complex
strain-path changes for this type of steel (i.e., dual-phase steels). Transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) microstructures as well as X-ray diffraction textures are examined after several sequences of
simple shear/simple shear loadings. The evolutions of texture are analyzed through comparison with
predictions made with the viscoplastic Taylor–Bishop–Hill (TBH) model; its influence on macroscopic
values of stress is also quantified. As for the microstructural evolutions, in all investigated cases, it is
clear that the dislocation structures which are formed in various grains are strongly dependent on the
orientation of the grain, as in the case of previously investigated steel.[1] However, some differences are
observed, compared to a simpler single-phase material, which are explained by the differences observed
in the initial state and which are then related to the macroscopic behavior.

I. INTRODUCTION phase steel under two-stage strain-path changes and to relate

DURING sheet metal forming processes, the material
undergoes complex strain paths involving large plastic strains.
The combination of several simple loading tests is known to
be an effective way to investigate the plastic behavior of sheet
metals under such real forming conditions.[2–5] For specific
automotive applications, great attention has been paid in the
last few years to the development of very-high-strength
formable steels such as the dual-phase steels (e.g., References
6 through 11). Among the subjects which have been treated
in some detail concerning these materials, we can mention
the following: the characterization of the initial microstruc-
ture,[12] the influence of additional elements either on the for-
mation of the different phases at the annealing temperature[13]
or on the stabilization of some retained austenite,[14] the influ-
ence of the characteristics of the martensitic phase on the
mechanical properties,[15,16,17] or the quantitative analysis of
texture.[18] However, the mechanical properties of these steels
are usually studied under monotonic loading (e.g., uniaxial
tensile test, torsional test, etc.), although the understanding of
their remarkable work-hardening behavior requires investi-
gations of the mechanical behavior under complex strain paths.
Furthermore, despite the fact that the microstructure evolution
is expected to depend on the initial and deformation-induced
grain orientation, a simultaneous examination of the micro-
structure and texture evolution has never been performed for
these steels, as it has been done to some extent, for example,
in interstitial-free (IF) steels.[1]
The aim of the present work is, thus, to analyze the evolu-
tion of the dislocation microstructure and texture of a dual-
B. GARDEY, Ph.D. Student, S. BOUVIER, Associate Professor, and
B. BACROIX, Research Director CNRS, are with the LPMTM-CNRS
UPR9001, Université Paris 13, 93430 Villetaneuse, France. Contact e-mail:
sb@lpmtm.univ-paris13.fr
Manuscript submitted April 5, 2004.
these evolutions to the observed anisotropic mechanical
behavior. The characteristic features of the dislocation
microstructures formed during straining are determined from
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations, in
connection with the grain orientations; the main features of
texture evolution are also extracted from the X-ray mea-
surements. Some possible mechanisms responsible for the
observed macroscopic behavior are then proposed.
II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
A. Material
The material used in this study is an industrial dual-phase
steel, DP600.[19] It consists of two phases, i.e., a soft ferrite
matrix and some dispersed hard martensitic islands (Figure 1).
It was processed by continuous annealing followed by a rapid
cooling in the intercritical domain (austenite
ferrite) in
order to obtain a mixture of martensite and ferrite. The marten-
site content is about 10 pct. The ferritic grain size ranges from
5 to 15 m, whereas the martensitic one lies between 2 and
5 m. It was received in the form of rolled sheets of 0.7 mm
in thickness. The chemical composition is given in Table I.
B. Mechanical Tests
In the present study, two-stage loading sequences are per-
formed using the sole simple-shear test.[1,3,4,20] The used sam-
ples are rectangular (30 mm in length and 18 mm in width),
and only the central zone (30  2 mm) is subjected to shear
strain. In the present work, three different imposed strain
paths are analyzed: namely, the so-called monotonic,
Bauschinger, and orthogonal sequences (schematically rep-
resented in Figure 2). In order to achieve a Bauschinger
shear test, one sample is subjected to a simple-shear test
along the rolling direction (RD) for up to a 30 pct shear

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005—2937


Fig. 1—TEM microstructure of the initial state: the ferritic phase appears
in white, while the martensitic islands appear in black.[21]
Table I. Chemical Composition of the DP600 Steel
C Mn Si Cr Mo Al Ni P Ti Cu, S, N
Wt Pct 0.12 1.39 0.35 0.21 0.06 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01
Fig. 2—Shear-strain/shear-stress curves obtained after two simple shear
sequences: one Bauschinger and one orthogonal. The dots indicate the strain
levels for texture measurements and TEM observations. The sequences are
also schematically represented in the figures.
strain in the forward direction, the sense of shear is then
inverted, and the sample is then deformed up to 30 pct in
the reverse direction. The so-called orthogonal sequences
are carried out using sequences of simple-shear tests: for this
specific strain-path change, the first shear step is performed
using a symmetrical shear device on large samples, in which
small samples can then be cut out at various angles. The
performed orthogonal sequences consist here of a first simple-
shear test up to a 34 pct shear strain along the RD, followed
by a simple-shear test up to 15, 30, or 60 pct shear strain
performed on small samples cut out at 45 deg from the
RD. The used experimental devices and sample geometries
have already been described in details several times in the
literature,[4,20] and are, thus, not reproduced here.
2938—VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005
Roughly speaking, a monotonic sequence corresponds
to the activation of the same slip systems in the same
direction before and after reloading, a Bauschinger sequence
to the activation of the same slip systems in opposite direc-
tions, and, finally, an orthogonal sequence to the activa-
tion of slip systems that have been latent during the first
strain path. Actually, however, these different sequences
involve both microstructural and textural evolutions, as
well as short-range grain interactions, and it is, thus, the
ensemble of these evolutions that determines the macro-
scopic behavior of the material under a strain-path change.
Therefore, effort must be made in order to analyze the
microstructural evolution in various grains of different ori-
entations and to link the observed microstructure evolu-
tion to grain orientation, which is precisely the aim of the
following sections.
C. Crystallographic Texture Measurements
Crystallographic textures were measured using X-ray dif-
fraction in the ferrite phase. Three incomplete pole fig-
ures, {200}, {220}, and {211}, were measured in the
reference frame linked to the shearing test. Specifically, the
three axes composing the so-called sample reference sys-
tem are the shear direction (SD), the shear-plane normal
and the direction normal to the plane of the sheet (ND). It
is worth noting that this reference frame coincides with
the rolling one (RD, transverse direction (TD), and ND) for
the monotonic and Bauschinger tests, but not for the ortho-
gonal one, for which the final SD is no longer parallel to
the RD. The orientations composing a given texture are then
specified by three Euler angles (1, , and 2) or by means
of the Miller indices {hkl}uvw, for which the rolling
convention is kept, that is, {hkl} are the indices of the rolling
plane (normal to ND) and uvw are the indices of the
RD (or SD for the orthogonal sequence). From the incom-
plete pole figures, the orientation distribution function is
then calculated using the harmonic method. Because of
the centro-symmetry of the simple-shear deformation, it is
sufficient to consider only half of the Euler space, and,
hence, the angle 1 varies from 0 to 180 deg, even for the
initial orthotropic texture, for the sake of comparison. For
both shear and rolling, it has been confirmed that most of
the texture information lies within the 2  45 deg section
of the Euler space, and the textures are, thus, represented
only in this section.
The initial texture of the as-received material, shown in
Figure 3, is a typical steel texture induced by rolling and
annealing, mainly composed of a complete -fiber
{111}uvw texture and of a weaker partial -fiber
{hkl}110 texture, indicating an incomplete recrystal-
lization during annealing. It is expected that the presence
of this partial fiber will be responsible for some differences
in macroscopic behavior compared to the previously inves-
tigated IF steel,[1] for which the initial texture was only com-
posed of the fiber.
D. Structural Observations
The TEM discs were cut off by a sparking machine, pol-
ished mechanically up to 100 m, and, finally, thinned with
a twin-jet electropolisher using an electrolyte of 5 pct perchloric
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

Fig. 3—Initial crystallographic texture of the ferrite phase; 2  45 deg
section of the Euler space (maximum intensity  4.66, levels from 1 to 4
by steps of 1).
Fig. 4—TEM microstructure of the as-received material in some grains of
the fiber.[21]
acid
95 pct ethylene glycol at 55 V and 12 °C. Special marks
were printed on the foils parallel to the shearing direction, with
the aim of restoring this direction (as well as the rolling one)
on the TEM images. Observations were performed using a
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
PHILIPS* EM300 transmission electron microscope operated
*PHILIPS is a trademark of Philips Electronic Instruments Corp.,
Mahwah, NJ.
at 100 kV and were focused on ferrite grains whose orientations
correspond to the main components of the shear textures.
The grain orientations were determined in TEM by the single-
reflection method.[21]
For the as-received material, the dislocation density is rather
low inside the ferrite grains (Figure 4(a)) and is estimated to
be about 6  108 cm 2, while near the martensitic grains, the
density increases to approximately 30  108 cm 2 (Figure 4(b)).
The dislocations observed in the ferrite grains in Fig. 4 are
presumably formed during the transformation of austenite into
martensite, due to different thermal-expansion coefficients. By
comparison, the single-phase IF steel previously investigated
did not contain any dislocations after annealing.[1,4]
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Mechanical Tests
Figure 2 shows the shear-stress/shear-strain curves obtained
after one monotonic simple-shear test, one Bauschinger simple-
shear test, and one orthogonal sequence. For most of low-
carbon steels, as well as some Al alloys investigated up to now
(e.g., References 3, 22, and 23), the curves associated with
these strain-path changes usually present a lower yield stress
after reloading, associated with a temporary stagnation of
the work-hardening rate under Bauschinger sequences (e.g.,
Figure 5) and a higher yield stress followed by temporary
work-softening under orthogonal sequences (e.g., Figure 6).
In both cases, the length of the transient period usually depends
on the amount of predeformation.
It is seen that the present steel slightly differs from these
observations. With regard to the well known behavior of single-
phase mild steels, the yield stress in the present dual-phase
steel is much higher, and the Bauschinger effect (i.e., decrease
of the stress level) is larger. A work-hardening stagnation
period followed by resumption of work-hardening is also
observed during the reversed deformation in the Bauschinger
test. But, in the present case, the extent of the overall transient
stage, as defined by Vincze et al.,[23] is smaller compared to
other single-phase materials (e.g., IF mild steel[19] or an Al-Mn
aluminium alloy[24]) that exhibit a similar behavior (Figure 7).
In addition, contrary to what is observed in mild steel, a gradual
evolution of the work-hardening rate at the beginning of the
reverse deformation is obtained. After the orthogonal strain-
path change, the material first yields at a lower stress at the
beginning of the second strain path and then hardens at a higher
rate compared to the monotonic curve. However, neither soft-
ening nor cross-hardening effects are detected, as in the case
of low-carbon steels (e.g., Reference 20).
B. Texture Measurements
After a monotonic simple-shear test, the fiber is no longer
uniform and the grains reorient along the fiber toward the
“stable”* orientations for the simple-shear deformation mode,
*A stable orientation is associated with a zero rotation rate, whereas an
unstable one is associated with the highest rotation rate.[1]
VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005—2939
 (a)
Fig. 5—Bauschinger simple-shear tests at various amounts of forward shear strain: (a) DP600 steel and (b) IF mild steel.[19]
Fig. 6—Orthogonal sequences for an IF mild steel: Uniaxial tensile test at
10 or 20 pct true strain along the RD, followed by simple-shear tests
along the TD.[19]
i.e., the {111}112 orientations ({1,,2}  {30 deg/
90 deg/150, 55, or 45 deg}), as seen in Figure 8(a). This
evolution under simple shear has already been extensively
studied on IF steels that presented a strong fiber and for
which the same behavior was observed.[1] The fiber is slightly
weakened and principally translated along the 1 axis, toward
lower values of 1. This is qualitatively consistent with pre-
dictions made with the viscoplastic Taylor–Bishop–Hill (TBH)
model, as shown in Figure 9(a), where the predicted textures
have been computed starting from the initial rolling texture.
The computations using the TBH model have been carried
out assuming that both the {110}111 and {112}111
slip systems can be equally activated. The result of this pre-
diction confirms that the reorientation of grains belonging to
these two fibers is very close to a simple translation along
the 1 axis, in a sense opposite to the sense of shear. The
rotation rate varies continuously along the fiber, whereas
it is quite low along the fiber in the investigated strain
range. It is worth noting, though, that the texture intensity is
much higher in the prediction than that measured experi-
mentally. The strain-homogeneity assumption of the Taylor
model is suspected to be the reason for such an inconsistency.
2940—VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005
(b)
Fig. 7—Evolution of the size of the plateau during simple-shear Bauschinger
tests after different amounts of forward shear strain (10, 20, and 30 pct), for
different materials (as defined by Vincze et al.[23]). The data corresponding to
the IF steel and to the Al alloy are extracted from Refs. 19 and 24, respectively.
As recently reported by van Houtte et al.,[25] texture models
which take into account grain interactions yield predictions
that are much closer to the experimental textures.
Figures 8(b) and (c) show the textures obtained after the
simple-shear Bauschinger test and simple-shear orthogonal
sequences. During the Bauschinger sequence, the sense of
translation along the 1 axis is simply inverted during the
second shear step for both the and fibers. As a conse-
quence, the final texture is very similar to the initial one and
differs mainly by variations of intensity along the fiber.
It is worth mentioning that although the reorientation rate is
not constant along this fiber, the initial orthotropic symmetry
is almost entirely recovered after such a strain reversal.
The fiber is slightly affected by the Bauschinger test, since,
in the both positive and negative steps, the reorientation rate
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
 (a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 8—Orientation distribution function measured after (a) a 30 pct shear
strain along the RD, (b) a 30 pct forward shear strain along the RD, followed
by a 30 pct reverse shear strain along the RD, and (c) a 30 pct forward
shear strain along the RD followed by a 60 pct forward shear strain at
45 deg from the RD: 2  45-deg sections of the Euler space (the inten-
sity levels vary from 1 to the maximum values, by steps of 1).
of those grains is quite low. Concerning the orthogonal
sequence, as already explained by Nesterova et al.,[1] the
texture evolution can simply be described by a first overall
translation along the 1 axis* followed by reorientations,
*Associated with the rotation of the sample before cutting for the second
simple-shear test.
also along the 1 axis, quite similar to what was previously
described. However, as the rotated texture has become unsta-
ble with respect to the second simple-shear test, the overall
rotation rate is quite significant, which is especially visible
in Figure 8(c) for the fiber.
Figures 9(b) and (c) illustrate the predicted texture
evolutions after the same strain-path changes as those shown
in Figure 8. Although there is a good qualitative agreement
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 9—Numerically determined textures using the TBH viscoplastic model;
2  45-deg sections of the Euler space (the intensity levels vary from 1
to the maximum value, by steps of 1). The strain-path sequences are the
same as in Fig. 8: (a) 30% amount of shear strain along RD, (b) 30%
amount of forward shear strain along RD followed by 30% amount of reverse
shear strain along RD, (c) 30% amount of forward shear strain along RD
followed by 60% amount of forward shear strain at 45 from RD.
for the three investigated strain paths, the predicted textures
are much stronger than the experimental ones, especially in
the orthogonal case. As previously observed for the mono-
tonic loading, this is mainly due to the homogeneity assump-
tion of the full constrained (FC) Taylor model. Nevertheless,
in the case of orthogonal loading, the difference between the
experimental and predicted textures is quite large. This is
most certainly linked to the observation that the experimen-
tally measured maximum intensity does not increase with
strain, as in the case of previous observations made for IF
steels, for example; this could be due to the presence of strong
intragranular heterogeneities in the present dual-phase steel,
a point which will be discussed in Section IV.
VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005—2941
 (a) (b)
Fig. 10—TEM microstructures of grains after a 34 pct shear strain along the RD (SD), determined in (a) a grain close to a stable orientation[33] (9 deg
from {111}112) and (b) a grain close to an unstable orientation (4 deg from {111}110).

C. The TEM Investigations

1. Monotonic shear tests
The TEM microstructures associated with different stages
of the strain-induced dislocation organization have been
observed in various grains. After a 34 pct monotonic simple-
shear strain, dislocations are mostly organized into (elongated)
cells (Figure 10). As in IF steels, the TEM investigations show
different orientations of these microstructures, which clearly
depend on the ferrite grain orientation.[1] For example, for
grain orientations belonging to the fiber, one or two sets of
dislocation walls are observed: when the orientation is stable
(i.e., close to {1,,2}  {30 deg, 55 deg, 45 deg}, as seen
in Figure 10(a)), one set of walls parallel to the SD are clearly
seen, whereas the dislocations walls are perpendicular to the
SD when the orientation is close to the most unstable orien-
tation (i.e., close to {1,,2}  {0 deg, 55 deg, 45 deg}, as
seen in Figure 10(b)). For intermediate orientations, two sets Fig. 11—TEM microstructure of an grain ({100}011) after a 30 pct
of walls can co-exist. As previously explained by Nesterova shear strain along the RD[33] (SD).
et al.,[1] the orientation of these dislocation walls coincides
with the traces of the active slip planes. This was also recently
shown in Al alloys[26] and is also valid in the present case ure 12(b)). These two cases correspond to a sample sub-
for the grains belonging to the fiber. An example of such jected to a 30 pct shear strain in the forward direction fol-
a grain is illustrated in Figure 11, in which, due to the sym- lowed by a 30 pct shear strain in the reverse direction and
metry of the orientation ({100}011), two sets of slip traces have to be compared to the micrographs of Figures 10(b)
are simultaneously active. and 11 (monotonic simple-shear strain along the RD for the
In terms of orientation, these observations are, thus, quite same final orientations). Again, the orientation of the dis-
similar to those performed in other types of steel. However, location walls depends on the orientation of the grain, and
compared to an IF steel, all observed microstructures seem the aspect of the two sets of micrographs is quite similar.
to be more diffuse. As in a previously investigated bake- A closer inspection of these figures tends to confirm that
hardened steel,[27] this could be due to the presence of disloca- there is a partial dissolution of the dislocations present inside
tions in the initial state, which tends to retard the formation the cells during the second strain step, although a quan-
of well-organized structures. This point will be addressed in titative estimation of this phenomenon is impossible to make
Section IV. with sufficient precision; but, indeed, the dislocations walls
look more diffuse, and a small increase of the dislocation-
2. Bauschinger shear tests cell size—indicating a decrease of the dislocation density—
Two examples of Bauschinger microstructures are now can be deduced from the comparison of Figures 10(b) and
illustrated in Figure 12, for one highly unstable orientation 12(a) on the one side and of Figures 11 and 12(b) on the
(Figure 12(a)) and one moderately unstable grain (Fig- other. However, in all investigated cases, this dissolution

2942—VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005 METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A

 (a) (b)
Fig. 12—TEM microstructures determined after a Bauschinger shear test (30 pct forward shear strain along the RD (SD) followed by 30 pct reverse shear
strain along the RD) in: (a) one -grain {111}4-1-3 and (b) one near- -grain[33] {100}120.

(a) (b)
Fig. 13—TEM microstructures obtained after one orthogonal sequence for grains.[34] (a) TEM microstructure of an -fiber grain of stable orientation
(10 deg from {111}112) after 34 pct shear strain along the RD (SD1  SD during the first strain path), followed by 30 pct shear strain at 45 deg
(SD2  SD during the second strain path) from the RD. (b) TEM microstructure of a -fiber grain of unstable orientation (7 deg from {111}110)
after 34 pct shear strain along the RD (SD1  SD during the first strain path), followed by 15 pct shear strain at 45 deg (SD2  SD during the second
strain path) from the RD.

was never observed to be complete, as was, indeed, the
case in the IF steels. In other words, if such a Bauschinger
strain-path change is presumably associated with some
disintegration of previously formed microstructures, this
disintegration is never complete in dual-phase steels, unlike
in IF steels. As in the monotonic case, reorganization of the
dislocation structure seems, thus, to be more diffuse in the
present case.
3. Orthogonal tests
As for the first shear loading, the evolutions of the dis-
location microstructures after orthogonal strain-path changes
depend, again, on the grain orientations. However, in many
grains, the dislocation microstructures induced by the first
loading remain undisrupted during the second loading. Two
examples are shown in Figures 13(a) and (b) for one stable
and one unstable grain, respectively. When the amount
of shear strain along the second strain path is small (e.g.,
Figure 13(b)), we have a clear superposition of sets of dis-
location boundaries due to the first loading (denoted by the
numbers 1 and 3 in Figure 13(b)) and the second loading
(denoted by the number 2), whose orientation depends on
that of the grain, as well as on its stability. Again, in this
case, the preformed microstructure is neither destroyed (at
least at moderate strains) nor destabilized by the second
strain loading, as was previously observed for IF steels. No
local shear localization is observed either, which is consis-
tent with the fact that no macroscopic work-softening tran-
sient is visible on the macroscopic stress-strain curve. Only
when the second shear test is conducted up to large strains,
i.e., a 60 pct shear strain, does the prestrain microstructure
become hardly visible (Figure 14).

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005—2943

Fig. 14—TEM microstructure obtained after one orthogonal sequence for
a grain of stable orientation[34] after 34 pct shear strain along the RD
(SD1  SD during the first strain path), followed by 60 pct shear strain
at 45 deg (SD2  SD during the second strain path) from the RD.
IV. DISCUSSION
Concerning the present dual-phase steel, it can, thus, first be
said that, like in classical single-phase steels, (1) the texture
evolutions measured during the three investigated types of
strain paths are qualitatively in agreement with Taylor model
predictions and (2) the various observed microstructures are
strongly dependent on the grain orientation (as a consequence,
they are also qualitatively similar to those previously observed
in IF steels). However, the most significant macroscopic and
microscopic features which have been established to differ
from IF steels are as follows:
(1) an initial and small pre-existing dislocation density, due
to the multiphase structure;
(2) a strong Bauschinger effect and no orthogonal effect at
the macroscopic level;
(3) a strong weakening of texture intensity during the ortho-
gonal sequences; and
(4) a difficulty in forming and dissolving very sharp and
organized dislocation structures during monotonic,
Bauschinger, and orthogonal sequences.
As a consequence, if the link between the macroscopic
and microscopic features is relatively easy to make and model
in IF steels (e.g., References 1, 23, and 28), it is less obvi-
ous in the present case.
For IF steels, it is quite usual to consider that the effect
of texture on the overall hardening evolution is quite limited[20]
or even negligible.[23] As a consequence, the macroscopic
Bauschinger and orthogonal effects (i.e., respectively, the
stagnation of the work-hardening and the work-softening)
are mainly related to either dissolution or destabilization of
the pre-existing dislocations (e.g., References 23 and 29).
The fact that these dislocations are very often organized into
cells is, however, not universally recognized to play a role
on the hardening evolution.
As for the influence of texture on the overall behavior in
the present dual-phase steel, this can be quantified again
2944—VOLUME 36A, NOVEMBER 2005
Fig. 15—Evolution of the Taylor factor (M) during one orthogonal sequence
and one Bauschinger sequence.
with the Taylor model: Figure 15 illustrates the evolution
of the macroscopic Taylor factor (i.e., the textural contri-
bution to hardening) as a function of strain during two sim-
ulated Bauschinger and orthogonal strain-path changes (and
associated with the texture evolutions presented in Figure 9).
This figure shows that this factor does not evolve much dur-
ing deformation and, thus, contributes only very slightly to
the overall hardening evolution, but the fact that the orthog-
onal strain-path change does produce textural softening is
consistent with the shape of the experimental curve.
On the other hand, it is possible to relate the observed
difficulty in forming sharp microstructures or dissolving
them to the macroscopic behavior. The initial presence of
nonorganized dislocations is known to retard the formation
of a clear and polarized microstructure.[27] This can be thought
to have two main consequences: (1) the dislocations which
are formed during a first shear step are then more easily
annihilated during strain reversal (producing, thus, a strong
Bauschinger effect) and (2) the dislocation walls, which are,
consequently, less organized and dense, do not act as major
obstacles during an orthogonal change and do not prevent
the formation of a second set of dislocations cells; this can
also explain the fact that the stress after this change of strain
path is not increased and that no macroscopic or microscopic
localization is observed.
These observations can now help to derive and model an
appropriate constitutive model for this type of steel, and this
issue will be addressed in future articles. However, if the
homogenization techniques have to be used, it must be
remembered that, due to the multiphase composition of this
steel, simple models like the Taylor one are no longer suitable
to reproduce the degree of intragranular inhomogeneity which
is suspected, in the present case, from the measured texture
evolutions. Some more-complex models[30,31,32] have, thus, to
be considered.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
 V. CONCLUSIONS
The macroscopic and microscopic features of the mechan-
ical behavior of a dual-phase steel have been investigated
simultaneously during sequences of simple-shear/simple-
shear tests. The main findings concerning this steel can be
summarized as follows.
1. Texture and microstructure evolutions are qualitatively
similar to those already observed in an IF single-phase
steel during the same type of strain-path changes.
2. The texture evolutions are in qualitative agreement with
Taylor predictions, although much less intense, especially
in the orthogonal case; this is thought to be linked to the
multiphase structure of the steel, which produces strong
intragranular strain heterogeneities.
3. The dislocation microstructures are more difficult to form
or to dissolve than in IF steel, because of the presence
of dislocations in the initial state; this is thought to be
responsible for the enhanced Bauschinger effect and the
absence of an orthogonal macroscopic effect.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to Dr. E. Nesterova, CRISM Pro-
metey (St. Petersburg, Russia), for providing some TEM
figures and to T. Chauveau and V. Richard (from LPMTM)
for their contributions in X-ray and TEM measurements. They
also thank C. Teodosiu (LPMTM) for helpful discussions.
REFERENCES
1. E.V. Nesterova, B. Bacroix, and C. Teodosiu: Metall. Trans. A, 2001,
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