Nano Materials Science (Mar 2020)
Hardening after annealing in nanostructured 316L stainless steel
Abstract
In this work, coarse-grained 316L stainless steels were cold rolled with a thickness reduction of ~83% (CR 83%). After annealing, the behaviors of the nanostructured stainless steel samples were systematically investigated in the temperatures range of 200 °C–650 °C. It was found that with increasing annealing temperature the volume fraction of the α′-martensite first increased to reach a maximum value at 400 °C, then the volume fraction decreased with further increases of the annealing temperature. The yield strength was increased from 1400 MPa to 1720 MPa after annealing; this strong hardening effect in cold rolled 316L stainless steel was mainly attributed to the increase of the volume fraction of α′-martensite.
