Microstructure and transformation of Al-containing nanostructured 316L stainless steel coatings processed using spark plasma sintering

Three austenitic stainless steel alloys containing 0, 2 and 6 wt.% Al were prepared by cryomilling and spark plasma sintering. It was shown that aluminum influences the strain-induced phase transformation that occurs during milling. The milled powders consisted of finely dispersed particles with the powder particle size distribution increasing with aluminum concentration. Consolidation of the SS0Al (stainless steel containing 0 wt.% Al) powder via the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process onto a solid stainless steel substrate yields an equiaxed structure due to the original particle morphology resulting from cryomilling. The SS2Al and SS6Al SPS consolidated powder coatings exhibit a lamellar structure due to the increased aspect ratio of the particles. The degree to which the BCC structure induced during cryomilling of all three powder systems reverted to FCC was dependent upon the Al content. The SPS process was found to minimally influence the FCC recovery compared to conventional powder consolidation heat treatments. The energy supplied by the SPS process was insufficient to overcome the activation energy governing the rearrangement of dislocations required to complete the FCC recovery. The microhardness of the coatings processing using SPS was found to be highly dependent on the Al content by controlling the ratio of the BCC/FCC crystals in the formed coating.