Mechanical Behaviour of 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel Processed by Room Temperature Rolling

To study the effect of room temperature rolling on mechanical properties of 304 Austenitic Stainless Steel, the as received 304 ASS was rolled at room temperature for different percentage of plastic deformation (i.e. 30, 50, 70 and 90 %). Microstructural study, tensile and hardness tests were performed in accordance with ASTM standards to study the effect of rolling. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and hardness of a rolled specimen have enhanced with rolling. The UTS has increased from 693 MPa (as received) to 1700 MPa (after 90% deformation). The improvement in UTS of processed samples is due to combined effect of grain refinement and stress induced martensitic phase transformation. The hardness values also increases from 206 VHN (as received) to 499 VHN (after 90% deformation). Magnetic measurements were also conducted to confirm the formation of martensitic phase.