The relationship between grain boundary character distribution and intergranular corrosion resistance of 304 austenitic stainless steel

A wedge-shaped 304 austenitic stainless steel with varied thickness longitudinally was cold rolled into a flat one and then annealed at 1323K for 10 min. The grain boundary character distributions (GBCDs) in the specimen as processed were examined by the means of Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results showed that, at the regions with low pre-strains ranged from 4% to 6%, quite high fractions of Sigma 3(n) (n=0,1,2,3) grain boundaries and large-sized E3(n) (n=0,1,2,3) grain clusters are introduced compared with the regions of quite low (less than 2.5%) or relatively high pre-strain. The surface appearance of after corrosion test reveals that grain dropping due to intergranular corrosion (IGC) is depressed and the penetration of IGC from the surface into the interior in the cross-section is arrested significantly as well in the regions with high fractions of Sigma 3(n) boundaries and large-sized Sigma 3(n) grain clusters.