Low-temperature dependence of yielding in AISI 316 stainless steels

Tensile tests at temperatures between 323 and 4 K were performed on one heat of AISI 316 austenitic stainless steel having the composition Fe-17.34Cr-12.17Ni-1.55Mn-2.16Mo-0.051C. The temperature dependences of the yield and flow strengths at plastic strain increments from 0.2 to 3.65% are analyzed. At the yield strain (0.2%), no body-centered cubic (bcc) martensite phase transformation is detected. At higher strains (approx.3.2 +- 0.6%), bcc martensite forms from the parent austenite phase at test temperatures below 190 K, but there are no discontinuities in the temperature dependence of flow strength. A review of data available for three heats of AISI 316 at temperatures between 973 and 4 K reveals that deviations from thermally activated plastic flow theory occur at temperatures below 175 K, apparently depending on heat-to-heat compositional variations. Grain size and magnetic transition effects on the yield strength are discussed