High-Temperature Deformability of a Fe-Cr-Mn-Ni Austenite Stainless Steel with High Nitrogen and High Carbon Contents

High temperature deformability and fracture behavior of deformation-processed high nitrogen high carbon Fe-Cr-Mn-Ni stainless steel rods were studied. The effective fracture elongation increased rapidly from 1000 °C, and reached high values (>45%) at 1100–1200 °C, accompanied by strain softening and stress serrations, supporting periodic dynamic recrystallization (DRX). Dynamically recrystallized grains were observed close to the fracture surface, suggesting that active DRX worked until its fracture. Pre-deformation-annealing of Fe-Cr-Mn-Ni stainless steel rods at 1200 °C was found to deteriorate in deformability above 1000 °C, while it enhanced ductility below 950 °C. Pre-deformation annealing had a negative effect on the deformability above 1000 °C due to the reduction of driving forces for DRX, but it exhibited a beneficial effect on the ductility at lower temperatures because of the ease of slip in large-grained structures. The fracture surface at 1250 °C exhibited intergranular fractures due to partial melting at grain boundaries, supported by the thermodynamic calculation of the solidus temperature of Fe-Cr-Mn-Ni austenite stainless steel. In this study, effective fracture elongation, defined based on the assumption that the effective gage length decreases with straining, was found to be an accurate measure of hot deformability