Abstract
An investigation has been made of martensite (α′) formed in an Fe–16Cr–12Ni alloy by deformation of austenite (γ) and also of the reversion of α′ to γ resulting from heating deformed material. Deformation was carried out by rolling to 50% reduction at various temperatures in the range +150° to −78°C. The amount of α′ formed increased with decreasing deformation temperature up to ∼85% α′ at −78°C. Hardness measurements and electron microscopic examination were used to study the reversion of α′ to γ and the recovery and recrystallization of γ in samples heated for short times in the range 600°–800°C. The results indicated that recrystallization occurred more rapidly and recovery less rapidly in work-hardened retained γ as compared with reversed γ. The annealing of material containing a high proportion of deformation-induced α′ led to the formation of fine-grained austenite.