Influence of cold-work on the cavitation erosion resistance and on the damage mechanisms in high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steels

► Cold-rolling greatly improves the cavitation-erosion resistance of high temperature gas nitrided fully austenitic UNS 31803 stainless steel, when compared to the simply high temperature gas nitrided steel. ► Cold-rolled and recrystallized high temperature gas nitrided random textured fully austenitic UNS 31803 stainless steel specimens, showing a random texture are less cavitation-erosion resistant than the strongly (1 1 0) // surface textured as nitrided specimens. ► Cavitation-erosion damage in the cold-rolled specimens initiates mainly at coherent grain boundaries and slip lines initiation is rarely observed. ► Variations of the stacking fault-energy, grade of short range ordering and mechanical twinning are discussed as possible mechanisms of enhancing the cavitation erosion resistance of the cold-worked high temperature nitrided UNS 31803 stainless steel.