A high-strength plated steel sheet 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 and 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.

A galvannealed steel sheet includes: a scale-removed rolled steel sheet; and a galvannealed layer arranged on the scale-removed rolled steel sheet. When ten measurement points of the galvannealed steel sheet are set in a transverse direction by equally dividing a line-segment having a reference length of 50 mm by 10, a minimum P content of the galvannealed layer in the ten measurement points is 50% or more as compared with a maximum P content therein.

A method for controlling and optimizing a transverse uniformity of a coating thickness on at least one side of a running metal strip in an industrial galvanization installation, the coating being deposited by hot dip coating in a pot containing a liquid metal bath, includes at least the steps of: heating the strip substrate to a temperature higher than a pot temperature; passing the strip through the bath by wrapping the strip around at least a first deflector roll or sink roll followed by at least one second deflector roll, the second deflector roll improving a flatness of the strip; wiping excess coating thickness carried away by the strip on one or both sides of the strip by wiping nozzles blowing a gas on the strip at an exit of the liquid metal bath; and measuring an actual distance profile between the nozzles and the strip.

A method for producing a coated steel sheet having a tensile strength TS of at least 1100 MPa, a total elongation TE according to ISO standard 6892-1 of at least 12%, the product TS×TE of the tensile strength by the total elongation being at least 14200 MPa %, and a hole expansion ratio HER according to ISO standard 16630:2009 of at least 25%, the method including the following successive steps: providing a cold-rolled steel sheet, the chemical composition of the steel containing in weight %: 0.15%≤C≤0.23%, 2.0%≤Mn≤2.7%, with C+Mn/10≥0.420%, 0≤Cr≤0.40%, with Mn+Cr≥2.25%, 0.2%≤Si≤1.6%, 0.02%≤Al≤1.2%, with 1.0%≤Si+Al≤2.2%, 0≤Nb≤0.035%≤Mo≤0.1%, the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities, annealing the steel sheet at an annealing temperature T.sub.A so as to obtain a structure comprising at least 65% of austenite and at most 35% of intercritical ferrite, quenching the sheet from a temperature of at least 600° C. at a cooling rate comprised between 20° C./s and 50° C./s down to a quenching temperature QT between 200° C. and 270° C., heating the sheet up to a partitioning temperature PT comprised between 400° C. and 480° C. and maintaining the sheet at this partitioning temperature PT for a partitioning time Pt comprised between 50 s and 250 s, hot-dip coating the sheet at a temperature less than 515° C., cooling the coated sheet down to the room temperature,
the steel sheet having a microstructure consisting of, in surface fraction: between 3% and 15% of retained austenite, at least 30% of tempered martensite, at most 5% of fresh martensite, at most 35% of bainite, the sum of the surface fractions of tempered martensite, fresh martensite and bainite being comprised between 55% and 92%, and between 5% and 35% of ferrite.

A high strength galvanized steel sheet has a composition including, C: 0.02% or more and 0.30% or less, Si: 0.01% or more and 2.5% or less, Mn: 0.1% or more and 3.0% or less, P: 0.003% or more and 0.08% or less, S: 0.01% or less, Al: 0.001% or more and 0.20% or less, Ti: 0.03% or more and 0.40% or less and the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, and a zinc-coated layer having a coating weight per surface of 20 g/m.sup.2 or more and 120 g/m.sup.2 or less. The concentration ratio of C to Ti (C/Ti) in a portion within 10 μm from the surface of the base steel sheet is 0.8 or more and 1.5 or less, and the total amount of oxides of one or more selected from Fe, Si, Mn, P, Al and Ti formed in a surface portion within 100 μm from the surface of the base steel sheet is 0.05 g/m.sup.2 or less.

This steel sheet has a predetermined chemical composition, in which a steel structure of an inside of the steel sheet contains, by volume fraction, soft ferrite: 0% to 30%, retained austenite: 3% to 40%, fresh martensite: 0% to 30%, a sum of pearlite and cementite: 0% to 10%, and a remainder includes hard ferrite, a number proportion of the retained austenite having an aspect ratio of 2.0 or more in the total retained austenite is 50% or more, a soft layer having a thickness of 1 to 100 μm from a surface in a sheet thickness direction is present, in ferrite contained in the soft layer, a volume fraction of grains having an aspect ratio of 3.0 or more is 50% or more, a volume fraction of retained austenite in the soft layer is 80% or less of the volume fraction of the retained austenite in the inside of the steel sheet, and a peak of an emission intensity at a wavelength indicating Si appears in a range of more than 0.2 μm and 10.0 μm or less from the surface.

The present invention relates to a hot-rolled steel sheet for a high strength galvanized steel sheet, having excellent surface quality, and a method for producing the same, the hot-rolled steel sheet comprising, by weight %: C: 0.05 to 0.15%, Si: 0.03 to 0.10%, Mn: 0.7 to 1.39%, P: 0.001 to 0.05%, S: 0.001 to 0.03%, Al: 0.002 to 0.035%, and the remainder being Fe and unavoidable impurities. The weight ratio of Mn/Si is 15 to 25, the weight ratio of C/Si is 1 to 5, and the weight ratio of Si/P is 3 to 10. The hot-rolled steel sheet has a microstructure consisting of, in area fraction, 10 to 40% of bainite, 20 to 30% of pearlite and 40 to 60% of ferrite, and includes a ternary eutectic compound of FeO, Fe.sub.2SiO.sub.4 and Fe.sub.3(PO).sub.4 formed within 50 μm from the surface.

A hot-dip coated steel substrate coated with a layer of Sn directly topped by a zinc or an aluminum based coating is provided, the steel substrate having the following chemical composition in weight percent:
0.10≤C≤0.4%,
1.2≤Mn≤6.0%,
0.3≤Si≤2.5%,
Al≤2.0%,
and on a purely optional basis, one or more elements such as
P<0.1%,Nb≤0.5%, B≤0.005%,
Cr≤1.0%,
Mo≤0.50%,
Ni≤1.0%,
Ti≤0.5%,
the remainder of the composition making up of iron and inevitable impurities resulting from the elaboration, the steel substrate further having between 0.0001 and 0.01% by weight of Sn in the region extending from the steel substrate surface up to 10 μm.

This coated steel member includes: a steel sheet substrate having a predetermined chemical composition; and a coating formed on a surface of the steel sheet substrate and containing Al and Fe, in which the coating has a low Al content region having an Al content of 3 mass % or more and less than 30 mass % and a high Al content region formed on a side closer to a surface than the low Al content region and having an Al content of 30 mass % or more, a maximum C content of the high Al content region is 25% or less of a C content of the steel sheet substrate, a maximum C content of the low Al content region is 40% or less of the C content of the steel sheet substrate, and a maximum C content in a range from an interface between the steel sheet substrate and the coating to a depth of 10 μm on a side of the steel sheet substrate is 80% or less of the C content of the steel sheet substrate.

A high-strength steel sheet with excellent formability and high yield ratio that has TS of 980 MPa or more and YR of 68% or more is obtained by providing a predetermined chemical composition and a steel microstructure that contains, in area ratio, 15 to 55% of polygonal ferrite, 8% or more of non-recrystallized ferrite, and 15 to 30% of martensite, and that contains, in volume fraction, 12% or more of retained austenite, in which the polygonal ferrite has a mean grain size of 4 μm or less, the martensite has a mean grain size of 2 μm or less, the retained austenite has a mean grain size of 2 μm or less, and a value obtained by dividing an Mn content in the retained austenite (in mass %) by an Mn content in the polygonal ferrite (in mass %) equals 2.0 or more.