{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T18:55:14Z","timestamp":1792090514946,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,26]],"date-time":"2025-05-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1748217600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Guangxi Science and Technology","award":["2024AB08231"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024AB08231"]}]},{"name":"Guangxi Science and Technology","award":["2023AB37002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023AB37002"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study elucidates the influence of rapid heating (300 \u00b0C\/s) on martensitic transformation pathways, crystallographic variant selection, and the resulting mechanical performance in a medium-carbon steel. Compared with conventional heating, rapid heating markedly refines the prior austenite grain (PAG) and martensitic substructures, reducing the mean PAG size from 16.08 \u03bcm to 5.06 \u03bcm and the martensitic block size from 4.24 \u03bcm to 2.41 \u03bcm. The accelerated austenitizing and quenching promote a higher density of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) and favor variant selection dominated by the closely packed (CP) group. \u03a33 twin boundaries are also found to assist variant nucleation and contribute to microstructural complexity. Despite a marginal decrease in tensile strength, rapid-heated steels exhibit significantly enhanced ductility and a 28.3% increase in the product of strength and elongation (PSE) compared to their conventionally treated counterparts. These findings demonstrate that rapid heating not only enables effective refinement of martensitic substructures but also offers a powerful means of controlling variant evolution, thereby achieving a superior strength\u2013ductility synergy in martensitic steels.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma18112488","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,26]],"date-time":"2025-05-26T04:49:52Z","timestamp":1748234992000},"page":"2488","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Rapid Heating-Driven Variant Selection and Martensitic Refinement for Superior Strength\u2013Ductility Synergy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Siming","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming Technology for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liejun","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming Technology for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haixiao","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming Technology for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xianqiang","family":"Xing","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Orsa Steel Wire Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 511450, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianping","family":"Ouyang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming Technology for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhuoran","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming Technology for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinkui","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming Technology for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Songjun","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of intelligent Manufacturing, Guangzhou Vocational College of Technology & Business, Guangzhou 511442, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhengwu","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming Technology for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"115327","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scriptamat.2023.115327","article-title":"A Medium-C Martensite Steel with 2.6 GPa Tensile Strength and Large Ductility","volume":"228","author":"Junkui","year":"2023","journal-title":"Scr. 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