Effect of changing strain rate on flow stress during hot deformation of Type 316L stainless steel

In industrial rolling, changes in strain rate and temperature occur with strain during passes, and between one pass and the next. Plane strain compression testing has been used with ramped changes in strain rate during deformation, and with changes in strain rate between double deformations to study their effects on flow stress. No systematic deviations from a mechanical equation of state were found for ramped increase or decrease in strain rate, even at the highest experimental ramping rates. In the two deformation tests, static recovery between deformations reduced the initial flow stress below the value for an equation of state by an amount dependent on time. The reduction was increased when strain rate was increased for the second deformation, and the strain interval required to re-establish the equation of state flow stress is uniquely related to the initial reduction in stress.