Effect of Aluminum and Solute N on the Strain Aging of Extremely Low-Carbon Automotive Steel Strengthened with Cu sulfide

The precipitation behavior of solute carbon and nitrogen strongly affects the mechanical properties of low-carbon automotive panel. In the present study, the effects of aluminum and solute nitrogen on the bake hardenability and strain aging of extremely low-carbon steel with carbon content below 15 ppm has been investigated. The ferrite grain size and distribution of precipitates were varied with the amount of aluminum content of 0.003 to similar to 0.100 wt% in a constant solute carbon and nitrogen. With increasing the aluminum content, the ferrite grain size is increased and strain aging is delayed. The strain aging is also delayed by increasing the annealing temperature, although the ferrite grain size is not much changed.