A mechanism of ferrite softening in a duplex stainless steel deformed in hot torsion

A mechanism of dynamic softening of ferrite was studied in a 21Cr-10Ni-3Mo austenite/ferrite duplex stainless steel subjected to torsion at a strain rate of 0.7 s−1 at 1200°C. Transmission electron microscopy together with convergent beam electron diffraction were used with major emphasis on the study of misorientations across ferrite/ferrite boundaries. No evidence of discontinuous dynamic recrystallisation involving nucleation and growth of new grains was found within ferrite contrary to some suggestions made in the literature for similar experimental conditions. The softening mechanism has been classified as extended dynamic recovery characterised by a gradual increase in misorientations between neighbouring subgrains that were created by dynamic recovery processes at the earlier stages of deformation. The resulting dislocation substructure was a complex network of subgrain boundaries composed of a mix of higher- and lower-angle walls characterised by misorientation angles not exceeding 20° at a maximum obtained strain of 1.3.