Dependence of nanoindentation hardness with crystallographic orientation of austenite grains in metastable stainless steels

The mechanical behaviour of a metastable austenitic stainless steel has been studied by means of nanoindentation of individual grains. Hardness, elastic modulus and estimation of wear resistance were determined as a function of crystallographic orientation. Electron backscattered diffraction, atomic force microscopy and focused ion beam analysis was performed at the residual imprints. Results show that austenitic grains display an anisotropic behaviour as regard as hardness in contrast with the elastic modulus which remained constant and equal to 200 GPa.