Effects of Annealing Treatment on the Anisotropy Behavior of Cold-Rolled High-Manganese Austenite Stainless Steels

Abstract

High-Mn (over 24 wt%) austenitic steels recently have been developed with excellent mechanical properties such as high strength and ductility at very low temperatures for cryogenic application. Especially, cold-rolling process is and effective method to increased yield and tensile strength of high-Mn steel when making products. In our previous work, we have investigated the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties due to recrystallization without considering the characteristics of the cold-rolling direction of high-Mn steels. In this study, we evaluated the effects of anisotropic behaviors on the heat treatment of cold-rolling high-Mn steels. Despite the heat treatment, differences between transverse and longitudinal direction in the cold-rolled conditions generally affected the recrystallized microstructure. Such anisotropic behaviors caused changes in mechanical properties such as tensile and Charpy impact test, as microstructure along cold-rolling direction.