Recovery of a creep-deformed Type 316 stainless steel

The recovery of the dislocation structures produced in a Type 316 steel during creep has been examined by annealing over a range of temperatures and times, both in the presence and in the absence of stress. The influence of dislocation recovery on subsequent reloading behaviour has also been examined.Initial dislocation recovery occurs rapidly but the rate of recovery subsequently decreases as precipitate effects become more important. Dislocation recovery in the early, rapid stage appears to be controlled by vacancy diffusion between the dislocation links. The application of stress during recovery leads to an enhancement of the recovery rate in agreement with the network coarsening model whilst the incremental strains observed on reloading after recovery correlate well with the changes in dislocation structure produced during the recovery periods.List of symbols and appropriate values l dislocation link length - D _s self diffusion coefficient - b Burgers vector (2.5×10^–1 m) - C _j equilibrium jog concentration - dislocation link tension - k Boltzman's constant (1.38×10^–23 J atom^–1 K^–1) - T absolute temperature - t recovery time - M mobility term - Z frictional term associated with particles - _d dislocation density determined from micrographs - N _d number of dislocation intersections on test line - p length of test line - S foil thickness - ¯l mean dislocation link length - _c mean intragranular particle (carbide) spacing - r ₀ mean intragranular particle radius at timet=0 - r _t mean intragranular particle radius at timet - D solute diffusion coefficient - B solubility of M₂₃C₆ in austenite - particle-matrix interface energy - atomic volume (10^–29m³) - change in dislocation density during recovery period - incremental strain associated with reloading after recovery period - K constant - dislocation density - ₀ dislocation density at timet=0 - _t dislocation density at timet - ₀ friction stress associated with particles - constant (1) - shear modulus - angle between dislocation segments as dislocation breaks through a particle - A 1 cos (/2) - E constant - creep rate - F Taylor factor - L mean slip distance of dislocations - rate of dislocation recovery - stress - _y yield stress - J strength coefficient - _p plastic strain