  During the last years, the scientific and industrial community has focused on
the astonishing properties of Fe-Mn-Al-C steels. These high advanced steels
allow high-density reductions about ~15% lighter than conventional steels, high
corrosion resistance, high strength (ultimate tensile strength (UTS) ~1 Gpa)
and at the same time ductilities above 60%. The increase of the tensile or
yield strength and the ductility at the same time is almost a special feature
of this kind of new steels, which makes them so interesting for many
applications such as in the automotive, armor and mining industry. The control
of these properties depends on a complex relationship between the chemical
composition of the steel, the test temperature, the external loads and the
processing parameters of the steel. This review has been conceived to tried to
elucidate these complex relations and gather the most important aspects of
Fe-Mn-Al-C steels developed so far.
