Influence of 40% Cold Working and Annealing on Precipitation in AISI 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel

Intergranular corrosion is one of the most important processes affecting the behaviour of austenitic stainless steels. Factors such as steel chemical composition, the degree of prior deformation and the exposure temperature affect the degree of sensitisation. AISI 316L (0% CW) steel was annealed at 650 °C for 5, 10, 30, 100, 300 and 1000 h to analyse the influence of isothermal annealing on the precipitation of secondary phases. AISI 316L steel after 40% cold working and subsequent annealing at 650 °C for 1, 1.5, 2, 5 and 10 h was investigated. Time-temperature sensitisation (TTS) diagrams were created based on corrosion test (ASTM A 262, practice A) results. In the case of AISI 316L (0% CW), M₂₃C₆, chi and sigma phases precipitated at grain boundaries, and the Laves phase was mainly inside of the grains. In the case of AISI 316L (40% CW), sigma, chi, Laves and M₂₃C₆ were identified and precipitated mainly along the grain boundaries as well as on the shear bands within different annealing times. It was confirmed that the increase in the annealing time caused an increase in the amounts of secondary phases. Secondary phases in the equilibrium state were calculated using Thermo-Calc software.