This approach focuses on the study of the influence of heat treatment on a third-generation high-strength steel, mainly intended for the automotive market, on their structural, mechanical

This approach focuses on the study of the influence of heat treatment on a third-generation high-strength steel, mainly intended for the automotive market, on their structural, mechanical and electrochemical properties.

The results obtained by microstructural analysis after heat treatment show a bainitic structure, it contains ferrite and this compound gives the material studied a higher hardness than that of martensite and greater tenacity. In addition, the very high micro-hardness result after heat treatment compared to the result in the raw state, which confirms the result of the SEM analysis. Regarding the results of electrochemical characterizations shows that the polarization curve after heat treatment moves towards positive values compared to the curve of the material studied in the raw state, this may be due to the formation of aluminum precipitate which increases the corrosion resistance of steels.