Study of decomposition of ferrite in a duplex stainless steel cold worked and aged at 450–500 °C

The influence of cold-deformation on ferrite decomposition in duplex stainless steel during heat treatment at 450–500 °C was investigated using micro-hardness measurements and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that cold-deformation can change the mechanism of the α → α + α′ phase separation in the ferrite from nucleation and growth to spinodal decomposition. This finding is discussed in terms of the influence of an increased dislocation density on coherency strains.