Influence of Cold Worked Structure on Electrochemical Properties of Austenitic Stainless Steels

Abstract

Effect of cold working on microstructure and structure and thereby on electrochemical behavior of metastable AISI 304L and stable AISI 316L austenitic stainless steels in two different solutions is presented here. The solution annealed stainless steel plates were unidirectionally cold rolled at different rolling conditions (with or without inter-pass cooling and subzero temperature) up to 90% reduction in thickness. X-ray diffraction technique was employed to study textures and residual stresses development in the stainless steels due to cold working and to quantify the volume fraction of -martensite phase formed in the metastable stainless steel. Cold working has introduced residual stress and developed texture in both the stainless steels. Residual stress and volume fraction of strain induced - martensite phase in 304L SS was varied with rolling conditions. The study has shown that the type of the textures developed in the two stainless steels influenced their electrochemical properties.