Tailoring mechanical behavior of a fine-grained metastable austenitic stainless steel by pre-straining

A fine-grained AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel (ASS) was fabricated by cryogenic-rolling and cycle annealing. The fine-grained ASS was pre-strained to various strains of 0-0.16, and the corresponding microstructures, kinetics of strain-induced alpha'-martensite (SIM alpha') and work-hardening behavior were investigated based on quantitative characterization, interrupted-tensile tests and physical metallurgy. We find that the yield strength of the ASS can be enhanced by combining grain-refining with pre-straining due to the strengthening effect of grain-refinement, dislocations, shear bands and SIM alpha'. The formation rate of shear band increases with increasing pre-strain (epsilon(p)) and the probability for an intersection of shear band to form a SIM alpha' embryo is insensitive to the pre-strain, and as a result, the kinetics of SIM alpha' is accelerated by pre-straining. The fine-grained ASS with epsilon(p) approximate to 0-0.16 display a three-stage work-hardening behavior, and the corresponding Stage I, II and III are completed in advance mainly due to their faster kinetics of SIM alpha' and severer dynamic recovery caused by pre-straining. The work-hardening rate (Theta) of pre-strained fine-grained ASS decreases faster than that of non-pre-strained counterpart at Stage I, accompanying with dislocations-dominated hardening. The Theta ascend with increasing strain to a peak value at Stage II and then decline continuously to necking at Stage III, following as SIM alpha'-governed hardening, which can be tailored by grain-refining and pre-straining. Our studies provide the direct experimental evidence for the pre-straining to trim the kinetics of SIM alpha' in a fine-grained ASS. These observations help to deepen understanding of the effect of pre-strain on the mechanical behavior of other fine-grained strengthening ASS and transformation-induced-plasticity (TRIP) assisted alloy.