Cold deformation effect on the microstructures and mechanical properties of AISI 301LN and 316L stainless steels

As austenitic stainless steels have an adequate combination of mechanical resistance, conformability and resistance to corrosion they are used in a wide variety of industries, such as the food, transport, nuclear and petrochemical industries. Among these austenitic steels, the AISI 301LN and 316L steels have attracted prominent attention due to their excellent mechanical resistance. In this paper a microstructural characterization of AISI 301LN and 316L steels was made using various techniques such as metallography, optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy and atomic force microscopy, in order to analyze the cold deformation effect. Also, the microstructural changes were correlated with the alterations of mechanical properties of the materials under study. One of the numerous uses of AISI 301LN and 316L steels is in the structure of wagons for metropolitan surface trains. For this type of application it is imperative to know their microstructural behavior when subjected to cold deformation and correlate it with their mechanical properties and resistance to corrosion. Microstructural analysis showed that cold deformation causes significant microstructural modifications in these steels, mainly hardening. This modification increases the mechanical resistance of the materials appropriately for their foreseen application. Nonetheless, the materials become susceptible to pitting corrosion.