Materials Technology

Some Strengthening Methods for Austenitic Stainless Steels

L.P. Karjalainen1), T. Taulavuori2), M. Sellman2), A. Kyröläinen3)

1)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland, pentti.karjalainen@oulu.fi
2)
Research Centre, Outokumpu Tornio Works, 95400 Tornio, Finland
3)
Steelpolis, Raahe Region Technology Center Ltd, 92100, Raahe, Finland

Austenitic stainless steels possessing good corrosion resistance have recently found growing applications as a constructional material. In
this instance, increasing strength properties, which are typically quite low, is of great interest. Due to the low stacking fault energy, strain
hardening of alloyed austenite is efficient for increasing tensile strength without impairing ductility seriously. In addition, certain grades are
unstable, so that cold working creates strain-induced martensite that enhances strengthening. Grain size refinement to micrometer scale or
even finer can also increase the yield strength, still providing good ductility. In the present paper dislocation and phase transformation
strengthening and thereby properties achievable in temper rolled austenitic stainless steels are discussed. Strengthening by the reversion
annealing is also described and excellent results achievable are shown. Finally, the effect of bake hardening through the static strain
ageing is presented. Long-term research work in various projects indicates that the current knowledge of strengthening of austenitic
stainless steels is close to the industrial utilisation.

Keywords: austenitic stainless steels, strength, ductility, strain hardening, strain-induced martensite, grain size refinement, bake hardening,
strain aging.

DOI: 10.2374/SRI08SP040-79-2008-404; submitted on 24 January 2008, accepted on 26 February 2008.

Introduction affecting their strengthening behaviour. However, the

intention of this paper is not to be any comprehensive
Development of advanced high strength steels is a target literature survey of those factors. Furthermore, more
set by the European Commission in its Steel Platform uncommon strengthening mechanisms, reversion and bake
ESTEP for the year 2030. Accordingly, e.g. for automotive annealing treatments, are described and typical enhanced
and transport applications, steels with high tensile strength properties are shown.
and ductility should be developed, as shown in Figure 1
[1]. Stainless steels are among those new generation Strengthening by Cold Rolling
materials desired.
Austenitic stainless steels are traditionally used in The yield strength of austenitic stainless steels, and
various applications in which good corrosion resistance is particularly that of metastable alloys, can be drastically
required. For structural applications, however, their demerit improved by cold rolling. Cold forming generates strain-
is that the yield strength is quite low, e.g., 230-260 MPa induced martensite in addition to ordinary strain hardening
according to EN 1.4301 (AISI 304), and 350-380 MPa of high-alloyed austenite. In fact, it seems that the
corresponding to EN 1.4318 (AISI 301LN). Tensile interaction of plasticity and phase transitions provides a
strength is in the range of 600 to 800 MPa and total route to develop materials with exceptional combinations
elongation from 45 to 60 %. In regard to the ratio of of strength and ductility.
strength and elongation (as illustrated in Figure 1), The strength levels of commercial temper-rolled grades
however, stainless steels are located well above the ranges according to the design manual for structural stainless steel
of carbon steels. Nevertheless, there is a great
interest in improving the mechanical
properties of commercially available austenitic
stainless steels, so that these materials could be
better utilized in structural applications and
automotive industry [2-4]. Nitrogen alloying
and cold rolling are methods generally applied
to increase the strength. However, in
conventional Cr-Ni austenitic stainless steels,
there is a low limit for nitrogen solubility.
Problems with the hot ductility may also
appear with increased nitrogen content. This
topic will not be discussed here.
In the following, the cold rolling
strengthened austenitic stainless steels will be Figure 1. The target range set by the European Commission for automotive
considered and a brief discussion is also given steel development compared to present materials [1]. Typical property range of
related to the physical metallurgical factors conventional annealed austenitic stainless steels is inserted.

404 steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6


Table 1. Strength levels of cold worked stainless steels for structural applications
(applicable to the sheet thickness ≤ 6 mm) [5].
are shown in Table 1 [5]. In practice, in production
recorded by Outokumpu, the mechanical properties are
somewhat higher, for instance for the grade
+CP500/+C850, which equals ASTM ¼ Hard, typically
the yield strength Rp0.2 is 650 MPa, the tensile strength Rm
970 MPa and the total elongation A80 30 %.
Besides high strength, the temper-rolled austenitic
stainless steels possess good formability. In Table 2 it can
be seen that especially the grade EN 1.4318 (AISI 301LN)
has a low ratio of Rp0.2 to Rm (typically about 0.67 for
+C850 grade) that gives advantages in subsequent forming
processes. This is a result from unstable austenitic
structure. Furthermore, the good ductility enables
subsequent processing and intense work hardening during
the forming process guarantees that the final product
fulfils the mechanical requirements.
Figure 2. Temper-rolled materials have been used successfully in
lightweight sandwich structures.
Table 2. The ratio of Rp0.2 / Rm for some temper-rolled stainless steel
grades calculated from the values in EN 10088-2.
steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6
Materials Technology
At Outokumpu, research has been
conducted on structural cold strengthened
stainless steels since the 1980s, mainly
based on the utilisation of the Sendzimir
process, but recently on processing using the
integrated RAP (rolling-annealing-pickling)
line. Temper-rolled grades have found
applications in e.g. structural components of
cargo-vehicles in light-weight structures and
load-bearing constructional elements, in
honeycomb structures [6] (Figure 2) and in
automotive and transportation [7], e.g. tank-
containers. However, their use in pressure
vessels is still restricted, even though the
possibility to obtain Particular Material
Appraisal (PMA) exists for a defined
pressure equipment application according to
the Pressure Equipment Directive (PED).
Dislocation Strengthening
Inherently, austenitic stainless steels are characterized
by low yield strength but very good uniform and total
elongation. The strain-hardening rate of a single-phase
metal or alloy in plastic straining is dependent on the type
of dislocations in the lattice, perfect or extended, and their
ability to move, slip, cross-slip or climb, to pass by the
obstacles. Generally, in austenitic steels the stacking fault
energy (SFE) is low, so that dislocations are dissociated to
partial Shockley dislocations, while the two partial
dislocations are bound together by the stacking fault, and
they will therefore move together as a unit along the slip
plane. In the instance of SFE ≈ 10 mJ/m2, the separation
distance may be about 10 nm without external stress, but
can become even infinite under applied stress [8]. The
width of the stacking fault ribbon is of importance, since
the two partial dislocations have to be brought together to
form a perfect dislocation before intersection or cross-slip
can occur. This constriction requests for higher applied
stress, i.e. enhances flow stress and the strain-hardening
rate and results in planar dislocation arrays. Some
investigations on CrNi-based austenitic steels indicated
that planar slip does not always need a low SFE, but
another reason for planar glide in austenitic alloys might
be the phenomenon of short range ordering [9,10].
SFE of austenitic steels is a function of alloy
composition and temperature. It has been determined from
experiments and semi-empirical simulations [11-14].
However, SFE is difficult to measure precisely, so that
large inaccuracies may be associated with the
experimental values quoted from the literature.
Schramm and Reed [11] determined the SFE of seven
commercial austenitic stainless steels by X-ray diffraction
line profile analysis. They suggested a simple regression
equation as follows:
SFE = - 53 + 6.2 (Ni) + 0.7 (Cr) + 3.2 (Mn) + 9.3 (Mo)
(1)
where SFE is in (mJ/m2) and the elements are in mass-pct.
Recently, Talonen and Hänninen [15] measured the SFE
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Materials Technology
Figure 3. Change of mechanical properties as a function of cold rolling reduction. (a) 18.5Cr-9.1Ni [24], (b) EN 1.4318 [25].
Figure 4. Martensite fraction formed in cold rolling in (a) various steel grades [26], (b) in EN 1.4318 at small or large rolling passes [27,28]
and in tension at 0.1 s-1[15].
for EN 1.4318 (301LN) type steels by X-ray diffraction
and obtained the average value of about 14 mJ/m2. This
value is close to that calculated from the composition-
based equation of Brofman and Ansell [12]
SFE (mJ/m2) = 16.7 + 2.1(Ni) - 0.9(Cr) + 26(C)
while Equation (1) of Schramm and Reed would result in
distinctly lower values.
These regression equations indicate certain relationships
between SFE and alloy composition, so that, in principle,
the SFE could be controlled by adjusting the
concentrations of the alloying elements in order to get the
properties such as strength and work hardening rate
towards desired values. However, Vitos et al. [16]
calculated the SFE of austenitic stainless steels using a
quantum mechanical first-principles approach and they
demonstrated that the same alloying element can cause
totally opposite changes in the SFE of Cr-Ni alloys with
different host composition. This means that no universal
composition-based equations for the SFE can be
established, and therefore the general value of regression
equations may be questionable.
It can also be mentioned that the effect of nitrogen, an
important alloying element, on the SFE in austenitic
stainless steels is still a controversial issue, as discussed by
Gavriljuk et al. [17]. Both increasing and decreasing
influences have been reported.
406
Metastability and Strengthening
In addition to strain hardening of austenite owing to
obstructed movement of dislocations due to increasing
dislocation density and obstacles formed by dislocation
(2) interactions, phase transformation can occur during plastic
straining in metastable alloys as strain-induced. Numerous
studies on the topic show that the transformation sequence
is γ (fcc) to ε (hcp) to α' (bcc), e.g. [18-19]. However, the
hcp-phase may not form as an intermediate phase if the
composition is changed such that the SFE is increased.
Talonen and Hänninen [15] detected the presence of ε-
martensite only in steels with SFE <13 mJ/m2. ε-mar-
tensite formation is also dependent on the crystallographic
orientation with respect to the applied stress and the
deformation mode (tension or compression) [20-22].
It has been found that the intersection of stacking faults
or hcp-shear bands act as nuclei for α'-martensite and the
formation of the shear bands is a necessary precursor for
the strain-induced α'-martensite transformation [23].
Therefore, in addition to that SFE affects the deformation
mechanism, SFE must also play an important role in
determining the austenite stability, since it controls the
formation of the shear bands, and thus the formation of
nucleation sites for the α'-martensite [15].
Martensite is acting as a reinforcing phase. However, as
seen in Figure 3, the cold rolling reduction required for
EN 1.4301 (AISI 304) to achieve the +CP500/+C850
steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6

grade level is about 10% and for EN 1.4318 (AISI 301LN)
even less. This means that the α'-martensite fraction
created in this stage is still very low; about 2% in EN
1.4301 and about 5% in EN 1.4318 (Figure 4a); so that
the marked increase in the yield strength must be mainly
due to strain hardening: dislocations, twins and stacking
faults, or the Suzuki locking.
However, the bcc-phase formation in straining markedly
affects the tensile strength, strain hardening and ductility
of the material. There has been much previous work on
this topic aimed at delineating compositions, which are
most effective in producing high strength levels, and at
gaining a fundamental understanding of martensite
induced by concomitant plastic strain.
The amount of α’-martensite is dependent on alloying
and temperature, plastic strain, deformation method
(applied stress state), grain size, strain rate and the
characteristics of deformation mechanisms, e.g., Frehn et
al. [29]. Most recently Ratte [30] has discussed the factors
affecting the martensite formation in metastable austenitic
stainless steels.
A quantitative guideline regarding the influence of steel
composition on the strain-induced martensite formation is
the M d30 temperature, where 50% α'-martensite is present
after 30% tensile deformation. Some empirical equations
have been proposed to estimate the martensite fraction
including the influence of chemical composition. A
commonly used equation is that of Nohara et al. [31]:
Md30N (°C) = 552 - 462(C+N) - 9.2Si - 8.1Mn - 13.7Cr –
29(Ni+Cu) - 18.5Mo - 68Nb - 1.42(GS-8)
(3)
where the elements are in mass-pct and GS is the ASTM
grain size.
Sjöberg [32] has suggested an equation taking the
independent effects of carbon and nitrogen into account:
Md30 (°C) = 608 - 515(C) - 821(N) - 7.8(Si) - 12(Mn) –
13(Cr) - 34(Ni) - 6.5(Mo) (4)
There are a number of models proposed to describe the
rate of martensite transformation per unit strain in
austenitic stainless steel, e.g. [33,34]. The geometric
model of Olson and Cohen [34] is useful as it is simple to
interpret results, but it does not incorporate the
transformation strain from fcc to bcc. Recently Spencer et
al. [35] developed a transformation model based on
assumptions that there is a critical strain required to
generate hcp-shear bands from stacking faults, only the
intersection volume of hcp-bands act as nucleation sites
and the martensite will not grow beyond the intersection
volume of two hcp-bands. However, even this model calls
for further development.
In steel manufacturing industry, cold rolling - or in some
cases stretching of lower strength classes - is the
processing stage to strengthen austenitic stainless steels. In
Figure 4b it is demonstrated for EN 1.4318 steel in
laboratory rolling that the α'-fraction is highly dependent
on the pass reduction, large passes resulting in much
reduced α'-fractions, obviously due to adiabatic heating
occurring in cold rolling [27]. For comparison, data for
steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6
Materials Technology
martensite fraction formed in a tension test at the strain
rate of 0.1 s-1 is also included [15].
If considering safety components in automotive
applications, very high deformation rates may occur in
crash accidents, for example. It has been observed that the
tendency for α’-martensite formation is reduced for higher
strain rates [15,36], as can be expected. This fact is also
evident from tension tests, see e.g. [15,36]. This behaviour
seems to be associated with the adiabatic heating
generated during deformation at high velocities and its
effects on the transformation temperature.
Anisotropy and Asymmetry
As a design problem, it has been observed that a
pronounced directional anisotropy exists in Rp0.2 values in
temper-rolled grades, while there is only negligible
anisotropy in the soft annealed condition. For instance, it
has been found that typically for EN 1.4318 (3 mm sheet),
Rp0.2 values of specimens cut transverse to the rolling
direction were only about 86% of those for the
longitudinally cut specimens [26,37]. Under compression
the opposite is prevailing, a decrease in Rp0.2 for
longitudinally cut specimens compared to the specimens
cut to the transverse direction. However, the decrease in
the elastic modulus was not marked. Factors that affect the
anisotropy need further investigations to be taken into
account for structural design.
In addition to the directional anisotropy being present in
cold-strengthened grades, the ratio between the Rp0.2 values,
measured for longitudinally cut specimens in compression
and in tension, was measured to be 0.8, as an indication of
pronounced asymmetry in the mechanical properties
[26,37]. The opposite was valid for specimens cut
transverse to the rolling direction. To take this asymmetry
into account in structural applications where compression
in the longitudinal direction is a relevant stress state (e.g.,
column behaviour in bending, where the cross-section is
predominantly under compression), the characteristic
value for the design strength should be taken as 0.8 x Rp0.2
given in Table 1. A higher value may be used if supported
by appropriate experimental data.
Softening of Temper-rolled Grades in Welding
In welding of temper-rolled grades some softening in the
heat-affected zone can be expected and consequently some
loss of cold-deformation improved mechanical properties.
As an example, Figure 5 shows the softening during
annealing at various temperatures and times as revealed by
the drop in hardness of EN 1.4318 C850 steel. However,
in a short thermal cycle, marked softening by recovery and
recrystallisation takes place only at high temperatures
above 1100°C, so that the softened zone in the heat
affected zone of the base metal remains quite narrow. The
influence of narrow zones with different strength and
ductility properties, i.e. the mismatch effect, on the
behaviour of the welded joint is a topic under current
investigation and a model will be developed to predict the
mechanical properties of a welded joint with the
mismatching zones [38].
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Materials Technology
Figure 5. Drop in hardness of EN 1.4318 C850 during annealing
at various temperatures and holding times [38].
Figure 6. Yield strength of TIG or laser-welded joint of various
temper-rolled EN 1.4301 grades compared to the values of base
metal and standard requirements [39].
Figure 7. An example of a cross section of a double-pass joint and
its hardness distribution near root and upper surface, an under-
matching filler wire was used [40]. (FL=fusion line).
408
As expected, the degree of softening is dependent on the
welding heat input, and a method such as laser welding
can be recommended to minimize the degree of softening
and the width of the soft zone. As shown in Figure 6, laser
welding results in the equal strength of the joint with the
strength class +CP500 base metal, while softening in TIG
welding is detectable in all cases [39].
Welding tests for EN 1.4318 sheets of 3 mm thickness
carried out with the tandem-MIG method using two passes
reveal that he hardness of the soft zone in the HAZ is
about 210 HV compared to 250 HV of the original
hardness of the +C850 sheet, whereas the hardness of the
weld metal is about 170 HV, i.e. much lower (Figure 7)
[40]. Furthermore, the fusion boundary and the soft zone
of the upper bead are not vertical, but very inclined as
evident in Figure 7. It has been observed that the soft zone
is not a critical zone in tension, except at excess heat
inputs. The strength values fulfilling the requirements for
the grade +C850 base metal can be achieved, for instance,
using soft welding filler wire (such as 308LSi) and a
proper heat input (in the range 2-2.5 kJ/cm), while the
adequate height of the surface bead provides the extra
strength required for the joint, see Figure 8.
Grain Size Strengthening
In ferritic structural steels, refining of the grain size is a
well-known effective method to increase the yield strength.
High attention has been paid to processing of steels with
ultra-fine grain size, typically in the order of one
micrometer, e.g. [41,42]. As a result, a yield strength of
about 800 MPa can be achieved even in plain C-Mn grades,
but unfortunately the strain-hardening rate becomes very
low and the ductility/elongation remains low.
In austenitic stainless steels, the grain size refinement by
thermo-mechanical processing similarly as in ferritic steels
is not possible, because there is no transformation of
austenite to ferrite and the recrystallisation of austenite
takes place at high temperatures and it does not refine the
grain size markedly. However, grain refinement would be
beneficial, for an established Hall-Petch type relationship
suggests for 12.5Cr-9.5Ni-2Mo-0.1N steel that [43]:
Rp0.2 (MPa) = σo + k d-0.5 = 150 + 17 d -0.5 (5)
where σo is the friction stress, k Hall-Petch slope and d
grain size in mm. It follows that Rp0.2 is about 700 MPa
and 1000 MPa corresponding to a grain size of 1 μm and
0.5 μm, respectively. Rajasekhara et al. [44] obtained a
smaller k in another relationship
Rp0.2 (MPa) = 252 + 8.7 d -0.5 (6)
for the reversion treated ultra-fine grained EN 1.4318 steel,
but still fine grain size would mean higher strength.
There are several Japanese publications describing the
processing route to obtain sub-micron grain size in
metastable austenitic stainless steels [43,45,46]. This
approach consists of heavy cold rolling to induce the
formation of stress-induced martensite and its deformation,
followed by an annealing treatment to revert the deformed
martensite into ultra fine-grained austenite. This process
steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6
 Materials Technology

was also reported by di Shino et al. [47] for EN 1.4310

(AISI 301) steel to obtain grain sizes around 2 μm.
Recently this processing route has been investigated
extensively in a collaborative project at the University of
Oulu and University of Texas [27,48-50]. In the research
performed it has been found that in EN 1.4318 steel, even
after cold rolling reductions as low as 45%, leaving a
considerable amount of cold-deformed austenite in the
strained structure, submicron sized austenite is readily
formed in the diffusion-controlled reversion process. The
reversion kinetics is dependent on the prior cold rolling
reduction, annealing temperature and time, but it is very
fast above 750°C. The grain size after annealing at 800°C Figure 8. Force-strain curves for a tandem-MIG welded joint and
for 1 s is slightly below 1 μm (cold rolling reduction 62%). the 1.4318 C850 base metal.
A typical fine-grained structure is shown in Figure 9a in a
SEM-EBSD photo. After cold rolling reduction of 45%
and annealing for 10 s at 800°C, the grain structure is
slightly coarser and it can be examined with optical
microscopy (Figure 9b). In addition to fine grains, it
contains some large austenite grains corresponding to
retained austenite, untransformed in the rolling stage,
which tends to recrystallise at 850-900°C at longer times
than the reversion occurs.
The reversion at temperatures of 730-800°C results in an Figure 9. Ultra fine grain size obtained in reversion annealing of
excellent combination of yield strength and elongation, as EN 1.4318 at 800°C (a) for 1 s after 62% cold rolling reduction
demonstrated by typical stress-strain curves in Figure 10. (SEM-EBSD), (b) for 10 s after 45% reduction.
Also tensile strength is high due to intensive strain
hardening in tensile straining. Therefore, after optimum
reversion treatments, the Rm - elongation combinations can
even reach the range targeted by European Commission,
as demonstrated in Figure 11.
Rajasekhara et al. [44] have considered the role of fine
grain size on Rp0.2 of the reversion annealed EN 1.4318
steel. They showed that the maximum contribution of the
grain size can be substantial, about 250 MPa, in the
instance of annealing at 800°C for 1 s providing a
micrometer scale austenite grain size. However, it may be
concluded from the high strength-elongation combination
of EN 1.4310 (AISI 301) steel obtained without any fine
austenite grain size that (i) coarse shear-reversed austenite
is present after annealing at 800°C for a short period of
time [27,48]; (ii) ultra-fine grain size is not absolutely Figure 10. Stress-strain curves for EN 1.4318, as cold rolled 45%
and reversion annealed. Typical curve for +C850 cold rolled grade
crucial, whereas the equal contribution can be readily
is also plotted [27].
obtained also from dislocation strengthening, i.e. from
dislocations inherited from the deformed martensite in the
shear-type transformation. It seems that a more important
factor regarding tensile strength and high elongation is a
proper instability of the austenite. It should not be too high
as evident when comparing the very different elongations
between 17/7N (17Cr-7Ni-0.115N) and EN 1.4310 steels
having practically the same Rm, and similarly between
17/7C (17Cr-7Ni-0.095C) and EN 1.4318 steels as
annealed at 800°C for 1s (Figure 12). It is obvious that the
gradual formation of strain-induced martensite in tensile
straining is a key factor for high ductility.
In addition, it has to be kept in mind that a high degree
of cold working may cause unfavourable internal stresses
in the material but in reversion annealing the above-
mentioned high strength-elongation values can be
Figure 11. Tensile strength-elongation (A10) achieved for EN
achieved in a less-deformed structure, which may be of 1.4318, as cold rolled 45-72% and reversion annealed at 700-
advantage for subsequent processing. This also seems to 900°C for 1-10 s (data from [27,48-50]), compared to the target
improve the corrosion resistance of the EN 1.4318 steel [51]. range set in ESTEP by the European Commission [1].

steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6 409

Materials Technology
Figure 12. Stress-strain curves of reversion annealed (at 800°C)
Cr-Ni steels with various preceding cold rolling reductions (CR)
revealing very different elongation dependent on their strain
hardening behaviour [49].
Figure 13. Engineering stress-strain curves of steel EN 1.4318 pre-
strained in tension to the engineering strains of 0.05, 0.15, 0.25 and
aged at 170°C revealing the influence of strain aging [54].
Figure 14. Change in the yield strength of various 20 % and 30 %
cold rolled steels in the rolling (RD) and transverse (TD) direction
after ageing at 170°C [56].
410
It has been noticed that in reversion annealing of high
carbon grades such as EN 1.4310, formation of carbides
can also occur at grain boundaries, which may cause some
degree of sensitization of the steel [52].
In production of longitudinally welded rectangular tubes
from temper-rolled band, the tube corners become more
deformed, reaching typically the deformation degree of
about 40%, e.g. in the case of 40x40 mm tube of 2 mm
wall thickness. Consequently, in the grade EN 1.4318
C850, the martensite content increases up to 35-40% near
the inner surface at the corner region. A novel patented
idea is to reversion anneal the martensite inside the corners
to transform it to ultra-fine grained austenite, in order to
improve the formability of the material of the corners that
is needed in subsequent forming and shaping processes,
e.g. in bending of the tube. Preliminary Gleeble annealing
trials indicate that excellent Rp0.2/Rm/A10 combinations can
be obtained by reversion.
Bake Hardening Strengthening
Bake hardening resulting from the static strain ageing is
a typical method for increasing the yield strength of
relatively low-strength mild steels used for automotive
body sheets. Typically temperatures below 200°C are
sufficient and the combinations of temperature and time
are well suited for the painting processes used in
automotive industry. The R&D work performed in 1990’s
on advanced high strength steels showed that steels having
dual-phase structure (DP), transformation induced
plasticity (TRIP) and complex/multiphase (CP) also
exhibit bake hardening behaviour as cold worked. A yield
strength increase up to 200 MPa has been measured [53].
Recently, interest in the bake hardening treatment of
austenitic stainless steels has been growing and more
research has been targeted to this field. The frontier
projects such as LIGHT&SAFE “Weight reduction for
safer, affordable passenger cars by using extra formable
high strength austenitic steel” funded by EU Framework
Program 5 has increased the awareness for this
strengthening method. Typically, a yield strength increase
by over 100 MPa seems to be achievable with commercial
austenitic stainless steels grades, as indicated in Figure 13,
without impairing ductility and formability [54,55].
Some further studies performed using commercial
austenitic stainless steel grades evidenced that at a cold
rolling reduction of 30% bake annealing can result in an
increase by 230 MPa [56], as shown in Figure 14 (even
300 MPa has been reported under optimal conditions [57]).
Correlation between the α’-martensite fraction and the
magnitude of strain ageing was demonstrated earlier in
many papers, but hardening was remarkably even in
materials having a martensite fraction as low as 1 to 5 %,
for instance in the case of Mn-alloyed EN 1.4372 (AISI
201) steel, as illustrated in Figure 14. With higher cold
working reduction, a yield strength of 1300 MPa (Rm ca.
1400 MPa) and a total elongation of 5 to10% can be
reached with EN 1.4318 (AISI 301LN) by optimizing the
martensite content of around 30-35% as well as the
duration and temperature of the aging treatment [57,58].
Respectively, the maximum value reported for the grade
steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6

EN 1.4310 is 1375 MPa (Rm ca. 1500 MPa) with a fracture
elongation of 13 % [56].
The magnitude of strength increment depends on the
direction of straining in tensile testing. Static strain ageing
seems to be more pronounced when straining occurs
transverse to the rolling direction, as shown in Figure 15.
Typically, increasing the degree of cold working reduction
increases the anisotropy, but according to the results in
Figures 14 and 15, the strain aging seems to diminish this
behaviour [56].
The mechanism of static strain ageing in austenitic steels
has been studied but it is not fully understood yet. It has
been suggested that the mechanism may involve re-
distribution of interstitial atoms in the strain-induced α’-
martensite or changes in the residual microstress state
[59]. However, it seems that the strain ageing is quite
significant even in the austenitic structure with very low
martensite fractions as seen here in Figure 15. Furthermore,
the activation energy of the ageing process is close to that
of C and N diffusion in the austenite phase. These features
may indicate that the static strain ageing is related to
microstructural changes in the austenite phase, probably
involving formation of atom pairs, irreversible effects of
temperature on stacking faults and the Suzuki chemical
interaction [59].
Conclusions
To substantially increase the strength of austenitic
stainless steels without significantly impairing their
ductility, cold rolling, reversion annealing and bake
hardening are three potential processes to apply. In
unstable grades, cold deformation, e.g. temper rolling,
results in the formation of strain-induced martensite,
which together with the effective strain hardening of Cr-Ni
austenites increases the yield strength, depending on the
reduction, up to 500 to 1300 MPa and the tensile strength
to 850 to 1600 MPa with elongation from 50 to 5 %,
respectively. Reversion annealing of cold rolled unstable
grades (EN 1.4318 in particular) can change the martensite
to micron-scale grained austenite that increases the yield
strength by about 250 MPa. Excellent combinations of
tensile strength and elongation (e.g., 1000 MPa/45%) are
achievable, even reaching the target range set in the
European Steel Platform. Under optimum conditions, bake
hardening is very effective for increasing the yield strength
by 230-300 MPa, and e.g. a combination of 1375 MPa
yield strength with 13% elongation has been obtained.
Research on cold rolling strengthening of austenitic
stainless steels has taken place over two decades and the
mechanism and phenomena are quite well understood and
strength grades are standardized for industrial use and
design. However, anisotropy and asymmetry in
mechanical properties present in these grades still call for
further research to be accounted for in design rules.
Reversion annealing for grain size refinement of austenitic
stainless steels, reported more than 15 years ago, is once
more under increasing interest and may result in certain
industrial applications. Research on bake hardening of
austenitic stainless steels has shown its effectiveness and
simplicity in processing, so that it is ready for industrial
steel research int. 79 (2008) No. 6
Materials Technology
utilisation, to improve the mechanical properties and their
uniformity in temper rolled steels.
Figure 15. Relationship between the martensite fraction and the
increase in the yield strength both parallel to the rolling direction
(RD) and transverse to rolling direction (TD) [55].
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