Characterisation of strain-induced martensite in a metastable austenitic stainless steel by nanoindentation

Deformation-induced martensite in metastable austenitic steel was characterised by the grid nanoindentation method. Distribution of nanohardness was found out in specimens with different martensite volume fractions. Bimodal distribution of hardness was only slightly affected by the values obtained on or near ?-a phase boundary. This approach was verified by independent phase identification using electron back scattered diffraction.