Σ3 CSL boundary distributions in an austenitic stainless steel subjected to multidirectional forging followed by annealing

Abstract

The effect of processing and annealing temperatures on the grain boundary characters in the ultrafine-grained structure of a 304-type austenitic stainless steel was studied. An S304H steel was subjected to multidirectional forging (MDF) at 500-800°C to total strains of ~4, followed by annealing at 800-1,000°C for 30 min. The MDF resulted in the formation of ultrafine-grained microstructures with mean grain sizes of 0.28-0.85 μm depending on the processing temperature. The annealing behaviour of the ultrafine-grained steel was characterized by the development of continuous post-dynamic recrystallization including a rapid recovery followed by a gradual grain growth. The post-dynamically recrystallized grain size depended on both the deformation temperature and the annealing temperature. The recrystallization kinetics was reduced with an increase in the temperature of the preceding deformation