Production of very fine grained AISI 304 steel with high special grain boundary density by grain boundary engineering

Abstract

AISI 304 stainless steel was subjected to grain boundary engineering by applying cycles of calibre rolling and subsequent heat treatment. After three cycles the grain size started to decrease, and after the fourth cycle a very fine grained material having high fraction of special grain boundaries was produced. Due to the short heat treatment at 850°C, only partial recrystallization occurred after the first three cycles, which was proven by the large amount of low angle boundaries. The stored elastic strain energy helped the grain boundary movement and the formation of annealing twins in the fourth cycle, which caused the formation of very fine grained structure with a large amount of special grain boundaries.