Fig. 1 a Dilatation curve of the experiment steel, b CCT curve calculated by JmatPro 7.0 based on composition

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram showing the processing route of WQ, HMR, and HWR samples

Fig. 3 SEM analyses of a AS sample, b WQ sample, ND-RD plane of c HWR sample, d HMR sample

Fig. 4 X-ray diffraction patterns of WQ, HMR, HWR, and HWR-150 samples

Fig. 5 IPF maps of a the AS sample, b the WQ sample, and c its corresponding PA. d The {011}α pole figures of variants and the reconstructed prior austenite. IPF map of e HWR and f HMR samples. The grain size and boundary distribution are shown in g and h

Fig. 6 TKD analysis of the HWR (TD-RD plane): a band contrast map, b IPF and GB map, c GND map, d GROD and CSL boundary maps

Fig. 7 a Tensile properties of different samples in this study. b Tensile properties of this work compared with other high mechanical performance steel (UTS > 1500 MPa and TE > 5%), including low carbon martensitic steel, medium-carbon martensitic steel, maraging steel, medium Mn steel, and high Mn steel [19,30,32,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55]

Fig. 8 Tensile fracture morphologies of a1-a3 WQ, b1-b3 HMR, and c1-c3 HWR samples. The corresponding high-magnification images of surface and core areas are shown in a4-c4

Fig. 9 Bright-field TEM images showing martensitic lath in RD-ND plane of a WQ, b HWR, c HMR. The dislocation cell and nanotwins in the TD-RD plane of the HWR sample are shown in d and e. The high-magnification image of nanotwins is shown in f

Fig. 10 a GND distribution of WQ and HWR samples, b strengthening contributions from different strengthening mechanisms

Fig. 11 a BSE map of different martensitic grain types in the HWR sample and b the corresponding schematic map

Fig. 12 Reconstructed prior austenite (PA) IPF maps of experimental steels with a 30%, b 60%, c 90% total deformation. The corresponding grain boundary maps are shown in d to f. The selected PAs with typical morphology in each sample are compared in g

Fig. 13 Distribution of Taylor factors, slip trace, and burgers vector for the {110} <111> slip systems of a WQ sample and b HWR sample when loading in the rolling direction. c Schematic maps of the relationship between martensite grain morphology and dislocation motion during plastic deformation

Fig. 14 Tensile specimen side fracture image of a1 WQ, a2 HWR and a3 HMR. The corresponding IPF map is shown in b1-b4. c1-c4 IPF maps of the terminal area of a longitudinal crack