Static and dynamic aging and softening in 304 stainless steel

Interactions between diffusing impurity atoms and dislocations can occur during or following the deformation of metals. These interactions cause dislocation pinning, leading to strain aging. At lower temperatures (<400°C), the relevant solutes are interstitial (in particular, carbon and nitrogen). At higher temperatures (>800°C), substitutional impurities are expected to be most influential. The same mechanisms that result in the yield drops, increased flow stresses and increased work hardening associated with strain aging at low temperatures should result in significant modification of recovery and recrystallization behaviour at higher temperatures.The present work involves the deformation of austenitic (304) stainless steel at high temperatures (800°C to 1280°C) in 1-hit and 2-hit high-temperature compression and multi-hit hot torsion testing. Experimental variables include the strain rate, temperature and interpass time.Significant anomalies in the static softening kinetics are observed; under certain deformation conditions, the normal relationship between temperature and fractional softening is reversed. This effect is attributed to the non-equilibrium segregation of phosphorus during the interpass holding time. Analysis of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) in the material has revealed retardation of the initiation of recrystallization; this effect is explained in terms of the segregation of substitutional elements to the boundaries of new DRX grains