A cold-rolled steel sheet is provided that has a tensile strength of 980 MPa or more, and has a prescribed chemical composition. The microstructure is composed of, in area %, ferrite: 1 to 29%, retained austenite: 5 to 20%, martensite: less than 10%, pearlite: less than 5%, and the balance: bainite and/or tempered martensite. The total sum of the lengths of phase boundaries where ferrite comes in contact with martensite or retained austenite having a circle-equivalent radius of 1 μm or more is 100 μm or less per 1000 μm.sup.2. The cold-rolled steel sheet is excellent in workability and low-temperature toughness, and in particular is excellent in low-temperature toughness after introduction of plastic strain.

A high-strength steel sheet satisfies a predetermined chemical composition in which a content of martensite is 93% by volume or more, contents of ferrite, pearlite, and bainite are 2% by volume or less in total, and a content of retained austenite is 7% by volume or less, based on an entire metal structure, a number of laths in martensite measured by a cutting method in a total length of 300 μm in an image of the metal structure observed under a scanning electron microscope is 240 or more, and a tensile strength of the high-strength steel sheet is 1470 MPa or more.

Provided are a hot dip galvanized steel sheet comprising a base steel sheet wherein the base steel sheet has a predetermined chemical composition, and contains ferrite: 50% or less, retained austenite: 30% or less, tempered martensite: 5% or more, fresh martensite: 10% or less, and pearlite and cementite in total: 5% or less, remaining structures consist of bainite, and a number ratio of tempered martensite with a Mn concentration profile satisfying [Mn].sub.b/[Mn].sub.a>1.2 and [Mn].sub.a/[Mn]<2.0 ([Mn] is the Mn content in the base steel sheet, [Mn].sub.a is the average Mn concentration in the tempered martensite, and [Mn].sub.b is the Mn concentration at the interfaces of different phases of the tempered martensite and ferrite phase and bainite phase) is 0.2 or more with respect to the total number of tempered martensite, and a method for producing the same.

A method is for producing a high strength coated steel sheet having an improved ductility and an improved formability, and a chemical composition containing: 0.13%≤C≤0.22%, 1.9%≤Si≤2.3%, 2.4%≤Mn≤3%, Al≤0.5%, Ti≤0.05%, Nb≤0.05%, the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities. The sheet is annealed at temperature TA higher than Ac3 but less than 1000° C. for a time of more than 30 s, quenched by cooling to a quenching temperature QT between 200° C. and 280° C. in order to obtain a structure consisting of austenite and at least 50% of martensite, the austenite content being such that the final structure can contain between 3% and 15% of residual austenite and between 85% and 97% of the sum of martensite and bainite, without ferrite, heated up to a partitioning temperature PT between 430° C. and 490° C. and maintained at this temperature for a time Pt between 10 s and 100 s, hot dip coated and cooled to the room temperature.

A method for producing a hot-dip galvanized steel sheet includes supplying humidified gas to the soaking zone 12 in a manner such that: in passes in which the steel sheet moves upward, the humidified gas is supplied from first humidified gas supply ports 40A to 40E provided at positions higher by 1.0 m or more and 5.0 m or less than the centers of lower hearth rolls 54 and overlapping the steel sheet in the passes when viewed from the side of the soaking zone; and in passes in which the steel sheet moves downward, the humidified gas is supplied from second humidified gas supply ports 42A to 42E provided at positions lower by 1.0 m or more and 5.0 m or less than the centers of the upper hearth rolls 52 and overlapping the steel sheet in the passes when viewed from the side of the soaking zone.

The present invention relates to a method for the manufacture of a galvannealed steel sheet including the steps of A.) coating of the steel sheet with a first coating consisting of nickel and having a thickness between 150 nm and 650 nm, the steel sheet having the following composition in weight percentage 0.10<C<0.40%, 1.5<Mn<3.0%, 0.7<Si<3.0%, 0.05<Al<1.0%, 0.75<(Si+Al)<3.0%, and on a purely optional basis, one or more elements such as Nb≤0.5%, B≤0.010%, Cr s 1.0%, Mo≤0.50%, Ni≤1.0%, Ti≤0.5%., the remainder of the composition is made up of iron and inevitable impurities resulting from the elaboration, B.) annealing of the coated steel sheet being annealed at a temperature between 600 to 1200° C., C.) coating of the steel sheet obtained in step B.) with a second coating based on zinc and D.) an alloying heat treatment to form a galvannealed steel sheet.

A galvanized steel sheet includes: a steel sheet having a chemical composition satisfying an equivalent carbon content Ceq of 0.35% or more and less than 0.60%, and a specified steel microstructure; and a galvanized layer on a surface of the steel sheet. The retained austenite has a solute C content of 0.6% or more by mass, and retained austenite grains with an aspect ratio of less than 2.0 constitute 50% or more of all retained austenite grains. In 90-degree bending at a curvature radius/thickness ratio of 4.2 in a rolling (L) direction with respect to an axis extending in a width (C) direction, an L cross section in a 0 to 50 μm region from a surface of the steel sheet on a compression side has a number density of voids of 1000/mm.sup.2 or less, and the galvanized steel sheet has a tensile strength of 590 MPa or more.

A hot-pressed member has a predetermined chemical composition. In the hot-pressed member, a steel sheet has a microstructure in which a prior austenite average grain diameter is 8 μm or less, and martensite is present in a volume fraction of 95% or greater in a region within 30 μm of a surface; a Ni diffusion region having a thickness of 0.5 μm or greater exists in a surface layer; a standard deviation of Vickers hardness values is 35 or less; Mndif (mass %) in a sheet thickness direction ≤0.20, where Mndif (mass %) is a degree of Mn segregation; and a tensile strength is 1780 MPa or greater.

Provided are a hot dip galvanized steel sheet comprising a base steel sheet and a hot dip galvanized layer on at least one surface of the base metal steel sheet, wherein the base steel sheet has a predetermined chemical composition, and contains, by volume fraction, ferrite: 0% to 50%, retained austenite: 0% to 30%, tempered martensite: 5% or more, fresh martensite: 0% to 10%, and pearlite and cementite in total: 0% to 5%, when there are remaining structures, the remaining structures consist of bainite, a concentration of B atoms at prior austenite grain boundaries is 2.0 atm % or more, and an average effective crystal grain size is 7.0 μm or less, and a method for producing the same.

A steel sheet of the present invention is a steel sheet having a predetermined chemical composition and containing at least ferrite, residual austenite, and/or martensite in a microstructure, and furthermore, is a steel sheet in which, in a plane parallel to a rolled surface, an average distance between centers of high Mn regions adjacent to each other is 1.00 mm or less, a density D.sub.A of the high Mn regions at a sheet width center portion and a density D.sub.B of the high Mn regions at a ¼ position from a sheet width end portion satisfy a relationship of 0.77≤D.sub.A/D.sub.B≤1.30, a ratio of an average hardness of the high Mn regions to an average hardness of the low Mn regions is 1.1 to 2.0, and a difference between an average of a top 5% and an average of a bottom 5% of Mn contents in the low Mn regions is 0.3% or more.