The strain hardening behaviour of AISI 301 metastable austenite steel was analysed by evaluating tensile data against the empirical mathematical equations of Hollomon, Ludwik and Ludwigson. It was found that these equations were inadequate to model this TRIP steel with low stacking fault energy (SFE). It was found that the fraction of strain-induced martensite could be expressed as a sigmoidal function of the applied strain. The log-log plots of true stress and true plastic strain from 5% to εUTS performed with uniaxial isothermal tests at 30 °C were thereafter adequately fitted with a sigmoidal curve. The instantaneous strain hardening exponent was determined as the slope of the above-mentioned sigmoidal curve at a specific strain value. The strain hardening exponent and the rate of strain hardening dσ/dε) increases with deformation due to formation of strain-induced martensite to a maximum and thereafter decreases as the volume fraction of strain-induced martensite approximates saturation. The variation of the instantaneous strain hardening exponent as a function of plastic strain and the strength coefficient, K, at 30 °C was deduced. A high value of K, 1526MPa, was determined. A correlation between the extent of martensitic transformation and the value of the instantaneous strain hardening exponent was observed. This work is part of the project that seeks to develop a constitutive model describing the flow stress during plastic deformation as a function of both plastic strain and the resulting martensitic transformation at different temperatures and strain rates and which accounts for the isotropic hardening process.
This article investigates the influence of temperature and strain on second‐phase transformation strengthening and the resulting mechanical properties in a lean AISI 301LN austenitic stainless steel within a temperature range of −60 to 180 °C. The volume fraction of martensite evolved is determined using nondestructive magnetic Ferritescope measurements that are adjusted by using a calibration factor of 1.7, which is established using the saturation magnetization measurements, X‐ray, and neutron diffraction measurements. The kinetics of strain‐induced martensite transformation (SIMT) as a function of strain and temperature is accurately described by a set of modified constitutive Boltzmann sigmoidal equations at temperatures below 75 °C. For this steel, the Md (30/50) temperature is determined as 61 °C. The absolute Md temperature is established as ≈109 °C, and no athermal transformation to martensite is observed upon cooling to −270 °C using cryogenic neutron diffraction facilities. Extended JMAK analysis of the transformation is used to shed light on the mechanism of martensitic transformation. It is found that the transformation‐induced plasticity (TRIP) effect due to SIMT is at a maximum at 75 °C, which is the maximum elongation temperature (MET) and calculations are performed regarding alloy development which will reduce the MET to room temperature.
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