Effect of carbon on work hardening behavior of 18%Ni martensitic steel

The behavior of work hardening by cold rolling and tensile deformation was investigated in an ultralow carbon and carbon bearing martensitic steels, and then the effect of carbon on the work hardening behavior was discussed in terms of the change in dislocation density and the microstructure development during deformation. In the ultralow carbon 18%Ni steel (20ppmC), the hardness is almost constant irrespective of the reduction ratio. On the other hand, the carbon bearing 18%Ni steel (890ppmC) exhibits marked work hardening. The dislocation density of these specimens was confirmed to be never increased by cold rolling. It was also found that 10% cold rolling gives no significant influence on the morphology of martensite packet and block structure. TEM images of the 10% cold-rolled steels revealed that the martensite laths in the ultralow carbon steel are partially vanished, while those in the carbon bearing steel are stably remained. These results indicate that the solute carbon retards the movement of dislocations, which results in the high work hardening rate through the formation of fine dislocation substructure within laths.