Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2011
High Mn TWinning-Induced Plasticity (TWIP) steels have mechanical properties which make them suitable for effective vehicle mass containment and an enhanced passenger safety in automotive applications. High Mn TWIP steels with additions of C and Al are fully austenitic at room temperature and have a stacking fault energy (SFE) within the narrow range of 20-30 mJ/m2 required for mechanical twin formation. The present contribution reviews the state-of-the-science on TWIP steels, and highlights those areas where there is still a lack of fundamental understanding of their properties, such as the effect of the anti-ferromagnetic transition, the influence of interstitial C, the twinning mechanism, the effect of slip and twinning on the crystallographic texture evolution and the delayed fracture phenomenon.