Remarkable difference between effects of carbon contents on recovery strain and recovery stress in Fe–Mn–Si–Cr–Ni–C alloys

To investigate factors controlling the recovery strain under no constraints and the recovery stress in Fe–Mn–Si–Cr–Ni alloys, effects of carbon contents on them were studied. The results showed that the recovery stress at room temperature increases with increasing the carbon content, but only the moderate addition of carbon can improve the recovery strain. The excessive addition of carbon will make the transformation of stress-induced martensite more difficult and thus the recovery strain lower. The more difficult the stress-induced martensite transformation, the less the amount of the martensite induced by the recovery stress in cooling, thus the greater the recovery stress is. The alloy with the maximum recovery strain does not enjoy the maximum recovery stress.