EBSD characterization of cryogenically rolled type 321 austenitic stainless steel

Electron backscatter diffraction was applied to investigate microstructure evolution during cryogenic rolling of type 321 metastable austenitic stainless steel. As expected, rolling promoted deformation-induced martensitic transformation which developed preferentially in deformation bands. Because a large fraction of the imposed strain was accommodated by deformation banding, grain refinement in the parent austenite phase was minimal. The martensitic transformation was found to follow a general orientation relationship, {111}γ||{0001}ε||{110}α′ and 〈110〉γ||〈11-20〉ε||〈111〉α′, and was characterized by noticeable variant selection.