Influence of recrystallization behavior on the mechanical properties of XM-19 stainless steel (22Cr--13Ni--5Mn--2Mo--0.3N)

A study was conducted to evaluate the variation of cold drawn XM-19 stainless steel tensile properties with solution heat treatment, test temperature, and strain rate. An evaluation of fatigue behavior was conducted. Recrystallization behavior resulting from the solution heat treatment was studied. It was found that yield strength increases as: (1) solution heat treatment temperature decreased; (2) strain rate increased; and (3) test temperature decreased. Ductility properties varied in an opposite manner. The thermally activated deformation approach was used to analyze this behavior. The most likely mechanism for the thermally dependent portion of the yield strength was determined to be point defect interaction with dislocations. The athermal portion depends on the degree of recrystallization. The fatigue strength was found to be greater than that of more conventional stainless steels and this was related to lowered stacking fault energy due to nitrogen addition