Effects of Pre-strain and Temperature on Bake Hardening of TWIP900CR Steel

The effects of pre-strain and baking temperature on bake hardening behaviour of TWIP900CR steel were investigated. The results reveal that the bake hardening process contributes to an increase in yield strength up to 65 MPa at the baking temperature of 200 °C. The difference in yield strength between baking temperatures of 170 and 200 °C is almost insignificant. It is clearly observed that baking at a high temperature does not result in a significant increase in yield strength. For a reasonable bake hardening, a good combination of pre-strain and baking temperature is necessary. Besides, the toughness of the material is found to decrease with increasing pre-strain.