Lattice rotation induced by plasma nitriding in a 316L polycrystalline stainless steel

The introduction at moderate temperature of nitrogen in the 316L austenitic stainless steel by plasma nitriding modifies the crystallographic texture in the very near surface region. The evolution of texture components has been quantitatively characterized by electron backscattered diffraction. The analysis of these experiments shows that the amplitude of the lattice rotation as well as the direction of rotation are directly related to the initial orientation of each grain. The retexturing behaviour is consistent with the lattice rotation upon tensile elongation of polycrystalline materials predicted by the Taylor model.