Abstract: The purpose of the present work was to study a novel heat treatment process, i.e. intercritical deformation-intercritical annealing-quenching (DIQ), for the microstructure improvement of copper-bearing low-carbon steel. The thermal simulation test was conducted and the microscopic observation of SEM and TEM were employed to analyze the microstructure evolution, dislocation density, and Mn, Cu elements partitioning and distribution within the Cu-bearing low-carbon steel specimens experienced the DIQ processes differing in deformation extent. The results indicated that, for the experimental steel processed by simulated DIQ, a larger deformation extent can lead to the refinement of ferrite and martensite, the gradual increase in dislocation density, and the biphasic change (enhanced → attenuated) of the alloy elements partitioning beha-vior. Through the DIQ treatment with 10% deformation, the best partitioning of Mn and Cu atoms could be achieved, as the average concentration of Mn and Cu within martensite increased by 62.82% and 20.73%, respectively, compared with the original steel specimen.
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