Cyclic Behavior of Reversion-Treated Structures after Different Cold Rolling Reductions in an AISI 301LN Stainless Steel

Abstract

Lower cold rolling reductions before reversion annealing for the grain size refinement are desired in industrial practice. This study demonstrates the effect of a low (32%) cold rolling reduction on cyclic behavior of a partially reversed (750 °C for 0.1s) structure in a 17Cr-7Ni-N type 301LN austenitic stainless steel and compares it with those of a 63% cold rolled and annealed and with a conventional coarse-grained structure. Stress amplitude and the amount of deformation-induced martensite formed under cyclic loading at the 0.6% total strain amplitude were recorded. The results showed that the partially reversed structure after the 32% cold rolling reduction exhibits the similar cyclic stress amplitude level and slight cyclic hardening as the 63% cold-rolled counterpart does. Even though the grain size refinement remains less effective at the lower reduction, the microstructure consists of higher fractions of strong retained cold-deformed austenite and martensite phases which increase the flow resistance. However, the coarse-grained structure exhibits a much lower initial stress amplitude and much more pronounced cyclic hardening. The susceptibility of austenite to transform deformation-induced martensite is practically similar among these three structures. However, the cyclic hardening is a caused by the formation of deformation-induced martensite, and the difference in the degree of cyclic hardening results from the big difference in the strength of the austenite between the partially reversed fine-grained and coarse-grained structures.