Restoration Mechanism and Sub-Structural Characteristics of Duplex Stainless Steel with an Initial Equiaxed Austenite Morphology during Post-Deformation Annealing
Uni-axial compression (UAC) tests and further post deformation annealing (PDA) were done for 23Cr-6Ni-3Mo duplex stainless steel (DSS). The initial morphology was equiaxed (EQ) in nature. In the first stage of PDA, austenite showed limited static recrystallization (SRX) followed by static recovery (SRV); however ferrite showed static recovery (SRV). In the second stage of PDA, the austenite showed grain coarsening followed by disintegration of substructures (DIS); and ferrite revealed mostly SRV leading to grain coarsening. The third stage of PDA envisages substructural disintegration of unstable substructure leading to saturation in both austenite and ferrite. The sub-structural characteristics were provided by Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and its post processing were done by using HKL Channel 5 software.