Characterization and high temperature mechanical properties in a duplex stainless steel

Abstract

The microstructure and mechanical behavior at high temperature of a thermomechanical processed duplex stainless steel have been studied. Recrystalization of the material takes place during heating to test temperature, and a microstructure consisting of islands of austenitic grains of about 10-15 μm in size included in a more or less continuous matrix of ferrite is observed. Tensile tests at temperatures above 1,000°C and at low strain rates show a stress exponent of about 2 and elongations to failure up to 290 %. These values suggest that deformation is controlled by a grain boundary sliding mechanism, which causes a decrease in the size of the islands during deformation. Finally, an activation energy for plastic deformation of 167 kJ/mol was observed that was related to the activation energy for grain boundary diffusion of iron.