Disclosed is, as a high-strength steel plate of API X80 grade or higher with a thickness of 38 mm or more, a thick steel plate for structural pipes or tubes that exhibits high strength in the rolling direction and excellent Charpy properties at its mid-thickness part without addition of large amounts of alloying elements. The thick steel plate for structural pipes or tubes disclosed herein has: a specific chemical composition; a microstructure at its mid-thickness part that is a dual-phase microstructure of ferrite and bainite with an area fraction of the ferrite being less than 50%, and that contains ferrite grains with a grain size of 15 μm or less in an area fraction of 80% or more with respect to the whole area of the ferrite; a tensile strength of 620 MPa or more; and a Charpy absorption energy vE.sub.−20+ C. at −20° C. at the mid-thickness part of 100 J or more.

A method of manufacturing steel strip including the steps of: casting molten steel into slabs; reheating the slabs at 1150° C. or more for 1 hour or more; hot rolling the steel into a strip, preferably with an average F1 slab entry temperature above 1000° C.; coiling the hot rolled steel strip; batch annealing the steel strip: at an intercritical temperature (i.e. between Ac1 and Ac3), preferably below 700° C.; in non-oxidising and non-nitrogenated atmosphere; total annealing time at least 5 hours, preferably at least 10 hours to get Mn enrichment in austenite such that Mn content is at least 1.25 times bulk Mn content of the steel and C enrichment such that C content is at least 1.2 times bulk C content of the steel; cooling the steel after batch annealing in air, forced air or water quench.

A high-strength structural steel material having excellent fatigue crack propagation inhibitory characteristics according to an aspect of the present invention contains, by weight, 0.02-0.12% of C, 1.7-2.5% of Mn, 0.01-0.8% of Si, 0.005-0.5% of Al, and the balance Fe and unavoidable impurities, wherein a microstructure of the structural steel sheet material is divided into a surface layer portion outside and a central portion inside along a thickness direction; the surface layer portion comprises tempered bainite as a matrix structure, fresh martensite as a second structure, and austenite as a residual structure; and the central portion comprises lath bainite.

Provided is a high-strength steel sheet having high impact resistance. The steel sheet includes: by weight %, carbon (C): 0.05% to 0.14%, silicon (Si): 0.01% to 1.0%, manganese (Mn): 1.5% to 2.5%, aluminum (Al): 0.01% to 0.1%, chromium (Cr): 0.005% to 1.0%, phosphorus (P): 0.001% to 0.05%, sulfur (S): 0.001% to 0.01%, nitrogen (N): 0.001% to 0.01%, niobium (Nb): 0.005% to 0.06%, titanium (Ti): 0.005% to 0.11%, and the balance of iron (Fe) and inevitable impurities. The steel sheet has a microstructure comprising ferrite and bainite in a total area fraction of 90% or more. The steel sheet has a value of 0.05 to 1.0 as a shear texture ({110}<112>, {112}<111>) area ratio of a center region (ranging deeper than 1/10t to ½t in a thickness direction, t refers to thickness (mm)) and a surface region (ranging from a surface to 1/10t in the thickness direction).

A high strength galvanized steel sheet having excellent surface qualities, plating adhesion, and formability is provided, wherein a galvanized layer is formed on a cold-rolled steel sheet comprising 0.1-0.3 wt % of C, 1-2.5 wt % of Si, 2.5-8 wt % of Mn, 0.001-0.5 wt % of sol. Al, at most 0.04 wt % of P, at most 0.015 wt % of S, at most 0.02 wt % of N (excluding 0 wt %), 0.1-0.7 wt % of Cr, at most 0.1 wt % of Mo, (48/14)*[N] to 0.1 wt % of Ti, 0.005-0.5 wt % of Ni, 0.01-0.07 wt % of Sb, at most 0.1 wt % of Nb, and at most 0.005 wt % of B, with the remainder being Fe and other inevitable impurities.

Provided are a high-strength steel sheet and a method for manufacturing the steel sheet. The high-strength steel sheet has a specified chemical composition with the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, a microstructure including, in terms of area ratio, 30% or more of a ferrite phase, 40% to 65% of a bainite phase and/or a martensite phase, and 5% or less of cementite, in which, in a surface layer that is a region within 50 μm from the surface in the thickness direction, the area ratio of a ferrite phase is 40% to 55% and the total area ratio of a bainite phase having a grain diameter of more than 5 μm and/or a martensite phase having a grain diameter of more than 5 μm is 20% or less, and a tensile strength is 980 MPa or more.

A high-strength galvanized steel sheet that includes a chemical composition containing, by mass %, C: 0.15% or more and 0.25% or less, Si: 0.50% or more and 2.5% or less, Mn: 2.3% or more and 4.0% or less, P: 0.100% or less, S: 0.02% or less, Al: 0.01% or more and 2.5% or less, and Fe and inevitable impurities. The steel sheet having a microstructure containing, by an area percentage basis, a tempered martensite phase: 30% or more and 73% or less, a ferrite phase: 25% or more and 68% or less, a retained austenite phase: 2% or more and 20% or less, and other phases: 10% or less (including 0%), the other phases containing a martensite phase: 3% or less (including 0%) and a bainitic ferrite phase: less than 5% (including 0%).

Provided are a high-strength steel sheet and a method for manufacturing the steel sheet. The high-strength steel sheet has a specified chemical composition with the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, a microstructure including, in terms of area ratio, 25% or less of a ferrite phase, 75% or more of a bainite phase and/or a martensite phase, and 5% or less of cementite, in which, in a surface layer that is a region within 50 μm from the surface in the thickness direction, the area ratio of a ferrite phase is 5% to 20%, and a tensile strength is 1180 MPa or more.

Disclosed herein is a high-strength plated steel sheet having a plated layer on the surface of a base steel sheet and containing predetermined steel components. The steel sheet includes, in the order from the interface of the base steel sheet and the plated layer towards the base steel sheet: a soft layer having a Vickers hardness that is 90% or less of the Vickers hardness at a portion t/4 of the base steel sheet, where t is a sheet thickness of the base steel sheet; and a hard layer consisting of a structure which is mainly composed of martensite and bainite and in which the average grain size of prior austenite is 20 μm or less. The average depth D of the soft layer is 20 μm or greater, and the average depth d of an internal oxide layer is 4 μm or greater and smaller than D.

The high-strength plated steel sheet of the present invention has a plated layer on the surface of a base steel sheet and contains predetermined steel components. The steel sheet includes, in the order from the interface of the base steel sheet and the plated layer towards the base steel sheet: a soft layer having a Vickers hardness that is 90% or less of the Vickers hardness at a portion t/4 of the base steel sheet, where t is a sheet thickness of the base steel sheet: and a hard layer containing martensite, bainite, and ferrite in predetermined ranges. The average depth D of the soft layer is 20 μm or greater, and the average depth d of an internal oxide layer is 4 μm or greater and smaller than D.