Microstructural and crystallographic characteristics of deformation-induced martensite formed in cold-drawn 316 type stainless steel

Deformation-induced martensite preferentially nucleates at the twin boundary between matrix austenite and deformation twin in 316 type stainless steel. In the cold-rolled specimen, the martensite formed at the twin boundary has K-S relationships with both of the austenite matrix and the deformation twin, that is, "double K-S relationship" is realized. While in the case of cold-drawn specimen, two kinds of twins with different twin planes are typically observed, and therefore, the deformation-induced martensites are formed at the intersections of the two deformation twin boundaries, satisfying "triple K-S relationship" among austenite matrix and two deformation twins, although there is a small misfit from the perfect K-S relationship. The complicated crystallographic orientation relationship leads to a strong variant restriction for deformation-induced martensites. Due to the difference in the number of nucleation sites, martensitic transformation is greatly promoted in cold-drawn specimen rather than cold-rolled one.