Research on Flow Stress During Hot Deformation Process and Processing Map for 316LN Austenitic Stainless Steel

In this study, the hot deformation behavior of austenitic stainless steel was investigated using Gleeble-3500 thermomechanical simulator at deformation temperatures in the range of 900-1200 °C and strain rates in the range of 0.001-10 s⁻¹. The effects of initial austenitic grain size and deformation conditions on hot deformation behavior of 316LN were analyzed through true stress-strain curves under different deformation conditions. Both the constitutive equation and processing map for 316LN were obtained. The results show that, with the increase of the deformation temperature and the decrease of the strain rate, the peak stress decreases, and the initial austenitic grain size has a little influence on the peak stress. The relative error between the peak stress values calculated using the constitutive equation and the values measured is less than 10%. Using the processing map, the best hot-working condition for 316LN in the range of experimental deformation parameters appears when T = 1200 °C and \(\dot{\upvarepsilon } = 0.001\,{\text{s}}^{-1}.\)