Heat Treatment Technology for Stainless Steel 316(L)

Abstract

Stainless steel 316 (also known in the literature as 1.4401) or 316L (also known as 1.4404) is alloyed steel with good corrosion resistance; so, it is widely used in modern steel tools. However, its application is still limited due to some properties needed to be improved. This improvement, first of all, relates to mechanical properties. The hardness value of stainless steel depends on its phase and constituent (alloying) elements. The increase of the hardness of stainless steel can be done by means of the engineering of microstructure and phases formed through heat treatment. There are several variations in treatments such as annealing, normalizing, tempering, hardening, and cycling. Cyclic heat treatment is a heat treatment that is expected to increase the hardness value of stainless steel by maintaining the toughness of the steel. Cyclic heat treatment can be used as an efficient method in the future.

Keywords

• mechanical properties
• stainless steel 316
• cyclic heat treatment
• microstructure
• toughness