This work presents a detailed experimental-numerical analysis of a low-carbon dual-phase steel microstructure, revealing evidence of significant anisotropic plastic deformation in lath martensite. A careful determination of the habit plane orientations in the present martensitic variants demonstrates that the observed traces of plastic slip coincide with the directions of the corresponding habit planes. To study the local lath martensite plastic activity, a dedicated substructure-enriched crystal plasticity based model is exploited. Compared with conventional bcc crystal plasticity, the model incorporates an extra crystallographic slip plane containing 3 softer slip systems parallel to the habit planes to capture the role of habit-plane plasticity. Simulations reveal consistent strain localization patterns as those observed in the experiments, with most plasticity localized in the martensite packets with their habit plane oriented favorably with respect to the applied load. Based on these insights, recommendations for future martensite modelling strategies and potential improvements of steels are discussed.
