Stacking fault energy measurements of Fe–Mn–Al–Si austenitic twinning-induced plasticity steels

Since the stacking fault energy significantly influences the deformation mechanisms of Fe–Mn–Al–Si twinning-induced plasticity steels, two methods for its experimental determination by transmission electron microscopy of dislocations, namely the size of extended nodes and the separation of Shockley partials, were evaluated for an Fe–24.7Mn–2.66Al–2.92Si (wt.%) alloy. Measurement of partial dislocation separation provided the most reliable results, yielding a stacking fault energy of ∼16 mJ m−2, which is comparable to recent experimental and theoretical values for similar alloys.