Static grain growth in an austenitic stainless steel subjected to intense plastic straining

Abstract

The post-dynamic recrystallization of an ultrafine grained 304-type austenitic stainless steel was studied during annealing at 800 and 1000°C for 7.5 to 480 minutes. The initial ultrafine grained microstructures have been developed by continuous dynamic recrystallization during isothermal multidirectional forging to a total strain of ~4 at temperatures ranging from 500 to 800°C. The post-dynamic recrystallization involves a rapid softening at early stage of annealing followed by a sluggish decrease of hardness upon further annealing. A transient recrystallization at early annealing stage results in somewhat heterogeneous microstructures in the samples subjected to previous deformation at relatively low temperatures of 500-600°C. This structural heterogeneity disappears with increasing the annealing time