In-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction study of the effects of grain orientation on the martensitic phase transformations during tensile loading at different strain rates in metastable austenitic stainless steel

Abstract

In this work, in-situ high-energy X-ray diffraction was used to analyze the effects of strain rate and austenite (γ) grain orientation on the strain-induced martensitic transformation in metastable austenitic stainless steel 301LN. The diffraction measurements were carried out at strain rates ranging from 10–3 s–1 to 1 s–1 continuously without interrupting the experiment and thus creating nearly adiabatic conditions at the highest studied strain rate. The results indicate that <100>γ fiber-oriented grains preferentially transform at the strain rate of 10–3 s–1 when the true strain is above 0.10, whereas the <111>γ fiber-oriented grains transform only at later stages of plastic deformation. The phase transformation rate of the <111>γ and <100>γ fiber-oriented grains decreases with increase in strain rate. A theoretical model based on stacking fault width as a function of external stress and temperature (stacking fault energy) was used to predict lower-bound estimates for the critical tensile stress needed to start ε-martensite and α’-martensite phase transformations. The model can predict the experimentally observed phase transformation behavior of the <111>γ fiber orientations at all strain rates but is unable to predict the decrease of phase transformation rate of <100> fiber-oriented γ grains with increase in strain rate, which could be related to change in dislocation structure.