Inter-Pass Softening Behavior of Fe–16Cr–xMn–4Ni–0.05C–0.17N Steel

Abstract

The paper investigates the inter-pass softening kinetics of 4 nitrogen-alloyed low-nickel austenitic stainless steels with various Mn-content by double hit compression tests. These tests are carried out in a Gleeble HDS V40 at three temperatures 970, 1050, 1150 °C and at three strain rates 0.1, 1, 10 s−1 and at three logarithmic pre-strains 0.15, 0.3, 0.6. Inter-pass softening ratio is evaluated by the 2% offset method and are further described by the Avrami equation, which includes the material constants as a linear function of the Mn content. Moreover, the mean recrystallized grain size after completed inter-pass softening is modeled as function of process parameters and Mn contents. The results reveal that the inter-pass softening kinetics slightly decelerates with increasing of the Mn content. The mean recrystallized grain size is marginally influenced by the Mn content.