Microstructural evolution of an austenitic stainless steel during a complex hot forging sequence

The purpose of this article is to study the microstructural evolution of an austenitic stainless steel especially designed for retaining rings. In order to characterize the microstructural evolution of the alloy, we have performed hot compression tests and defined a set of equations describing static recrystallization and grain growth. These equations, assuming that the additivity rule holds, have been introduced in a finite element analysis code developed at the Cemef, called Forge2. The method of Anan was used in order to take into account the microstructural heterogeneity generated during a multipass forging sequence. We have then performed experimental comparisons to verify our model on real multipass hot-forging.