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The deformation behavior of a nanograined/ultrafine-grained (NG/UFG) austenitic stainless steel characterized by high
strength–high ductility combination is investigated via nanoindentation and electron microscopy, and the behavior compared with
its coarse-grained (CG) counterpart. In NG/UFG steel, mechanical twinning was an active deformation mechanism, while in CG
steel, nucleation of strain-induced martensite at the shear bands occurred. The differences in deformation mechanisms of NG/UFG
and CG steels are reflected in the discrete burst in the force–displacement plots and attributed to austenite stability.
Ó 2010 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
There is currently a strong need to pioneer a new In austenitic stainless steels, the mechanical stability
frontier of metallic materials with high strength–high of the austenite phase and strain-induced transforma-
ductility combination for lightweight constructions, tion to martensite govern the ductility. The underlying
including stainless steels. In this regard, there is a signifi- reason is that the transformation of austenite to mar-
cant interest to understand the deformation mechanisms tensite increases the strain-hardening rate and delays
in nanograined/ultrafine-grained (NG/UFG) materials the onset of localized necking. However, it is known that
in relation to the coarse-grained (CG) counterparts. the grain size of austenite affects its stability [5–7] and,
Recently, we have developed a novel processing route of for instance, in high-Mn austenitic steels the grain size
producing NG/UFG structure in metastable austenitic variation affects the types of deformation mechanism
stainless steels involving controlled phase reversion [5]. In order to better understand the factors controlling
annealing of the cold deformed austenite [1–4]. In this ap- ductility in NG/UFG materials, it is intriguing to exam-
proach, in certain commercial steel grades cold rolling ine the deformation behavior using a sensitive nano/
(thickness reduction 45–77%) of austenite at room tem- micromechanical technique such as nanoindentation,
perature leads to predominantly dislocation-cell-type where we can probe a small volume of the material that
martensite [2]. Upon annealing, the severely deformed can be presumed to be initially defect-free.
strain-induced martensite reverts to austenite either The starting material was a commercial Type 301LN
through a martensitic shear or diffusional reversion mech- austenitic stainless steel of 1.5 mm thickness and having
anism, depending on the chemistry of the steel [1,3]. NG/ nominal composition (in wt.%) of Fe–0.017C–0.52Si–
UFG stainless steel of Type 301LN was characterized by 1.3Mn–17.3Cr–6.5 Ni–0.15Mo–0.15N. The strips were
high yield strength and elongation of 900–1000 MPa and cold rolled in a laboratory rolling mill to 62% thickness
30–40%, respectively [1–4], which greatly exceeds the reduction and subsequently annealed at 800 °C for 10 s
yield strength of 350 MPa and elongation of 40% for in a Gleeble 1500 thermo-mechanical simulator. The
the annealed CG counterpart. annealing experiments were carried out on strips of
120 mm 10 mm (thickness 0.34–0.6 mm). Given that
the nanoindents were to be subsequently examined by
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 337 482 6430; fax: +1 337 482 transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for microstruc-
1220; e-mail: dmisra@louisiana.edu tural evolution, the following procedure was adopted.
1359-6462/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2010.07.041
1058 R. D. K. Misra et al. / Scripta Materialia 63 (2010) 1057–1060
0.5 0.5
NG/UFG steel CG steel
0.4 Hertzian solution 0.4
Hertzian solution
6
Load (mN)
Load (mN)
0.3 0.3
5
0.2 0.2
4
3
0.1 1 0.1 2
1
0.0 0.0
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
Displacement (nm) Displacement (nm)
Figure 2. Representative force–displacement plots for NG/UFG and CG stainless steel acquired via nanoindentation experiments in the load-
controlled mode with a Berkovich indenter of radius 20 nm (maximum load of 0.5 mN and loading rate of 2 lN s1).
Figure 3. Representative bright-field TEM micrographs of the NG/UFG steel showing (a and b) twinning and (c) with occasional presence of
extended dislocations and stacking faults. The arrow in (b) shows dislocation being stopped at the twin boundary.
that a detailed TEM analysis of at least 20 samples in microscopy. In NG/UFG steel, mechanical twinning con-
close proximity to the indentation indicated martensite tributes to excellent ductility, whereas in CG steel, ductil-
formation, while regions some distance away from the ity is governed by gradual nucleation of strain-induced
indenter remained austenite. Furthermore, for the pop- martensite. Thus, ductility in austenitic steels depends
in to be associated with nucleation-controlled martensite on the metastability of the austenite and is affected by
formation, which occurs swiftly, the indenter tip should the grain size. Moreover, the differences in the deforma-
react at an exceedingly higher rate than the experimental tion mechanisms of NG/UFG and CG steels are dis-
loading rate of 2 lN s1 during the phase transforma- tinctly reflected in the force–displacement plots and
tion to maintain a constant loading rate, which produces attributed to differences in austenitic stability associated
pop-in [13]. Thus, based on the above discussion, the ini- with the grain size effect.
tial displacement burst in CG and NG/UFG steels is re-
lated to first generation of dislocations, while the latter The study presented here was supported by
pop-ins in CG are associated with austenite-to-martens- National Science Foundation through Grant No.
ite formation. Another viewpoint is that pop-in associ- CMMI 0940402 and Center and Functional Materials,
ated with martensite formation represents geometrical University of Louisiana at Lafayette. M.C.S. and
softening induced by the martensite variant selection L.P.K. acknowledge with gratitude the funding of The
that minimizes the total energy during austenite-to-mar- Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innova-
tensite formation [13]. Mechanical twinning can also tion (Tekes) via FIMECC Oy in the LIGHT-program.
cause twin variant selection, though, unlike martensite Discussion with Professor H.N. Han of Seoul National
formation, the nanotwins observed in Figure 3 lack sig- University, Korea is gratefully acknowledged.
nificant distortion of the lattice such that the concept of
geometrical softening is not applicable.
In regard to the mechanistic change in the deforma- [1] R.D.K. Misra, S. Nayak, S. Mali, J. Shah, M. Somani,
tion behavior from strain-induced martensite and dislo- L.P. Karjalainen, Met. Mater. Trans. A 41 (2010) 1543.
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NG/UFG steel and strain-induced martensite in CG
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