Role of severe plastic deformation on the formation of nanograins and nano-sized precipitates in Fe–Ni–Mn steel

In this research, the effect of severe plastic deformation (SPD) on the formation of nano-scaled grains and precipitation of nano-sized particles which consequently control mechanical properties of Fe–Ni–Mn alloy was investigated. Fe–Ni–Mn martensitic steels show excellent age hardenability but suffer from embrittlement after aging. Discontinuous coarsening of grain boundary precipitates, resulting in the formation of precipitate free zone (PFZ) along prior austenite grain boundaries, has been found as the main source of embrittlement in the previous studies. In this paper, severe plastic deformation has been carried out on the Fe–10Ni–7Mn steel to improve its mechanical properties. It is found that substantial improvement of tensile properties in cold-rolled steels occurs at thickness reductions larger than 60% where formation of ultrafine grains is realized. According to transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations, formation of nano-scaled grains less than 100 nm along with the copious precipitation of nanometer-sized precipitates take place in the severely-deformed steels.