On the nature of high-strength state of carbon steel produced by severe plastic deformation

Contributions of different strengthening mechanisms to yield strength of carbon steels C 10 (0.1 % C) and C 45 (0.45 % C) with ultrafine-grained microstructures have been analyzed in this work based on the precision investigation of the microstructure by electron microscopy, 3D atom probe tomography, and mechanical properties. Estimated values of yield stress showed satisfactory agreement with the experimental results. It is shown that significant contribution to strengthening is made by carbides. In particular, as the carbon content increases in carbon steels, the volume fraction of cementite increases and, accordingly, there is a bigger deviation of the yield strength value from the classical Hall-Petch relationship. The relative contribution of grain boundary strengthening into the yield stress is reduced due to an increased proportion of precipitate strengthening.