| Abstract Scope |
High Strength Dual Phase Steels (HSDPS) are, due to their good strength-to-ductility ratio, vital in industries like automotive. However, like all steels, they are environmentally taxing. Recycling offers a solution, but scrap-impurity-induced performance inconsistencies prevent meeting the high standards of HSDPS, bottlenecking circularity. To enable compensation of these inconsistencies, this study investigates the effect of representative impurity concentrations, rather than exaggerated ones often used in literature, on the uniaxial tensile performance of HSDPS. This is achieved through multi-scale mechanical testing, from macroscopic tensile tests to high-resolution but large-scale SEM-DIC tensile experiments, and supported by micro- to nanoscale characterization techniques (SEM, EBSD, EDX, TEM) from multiple direction. Capturing the subtle effects of impurities requires statistically robust analysis of large, high-resolution datasets. The data volume and resolution are critical to detect even minimal performance changes, enabling a deeper understanding of impurity effects and paving the way toward more sustainable, circular steel production. |