Influence of deformation on the transformation of austenitic stainless steels

Two commercial austenitic stainless steels of type 304 and 321 were deformed by reduction in thickness at room temperature or at liquid nitrogen temperature and subsequently annealed in the temperature range 473 to 1073 K. Microstructural changes were examined by electron microscopy. The deformation product in both the steels are different. An attempt has been made to correlate the mechanical properties with the microstructural changes.