Influence of Lattice Curvature and Nanoscale Mesoscopic Structural States on the Wear Resistance and Fatigue Life of Austenitic Steel

The gauge dynamic theory of defects in a heterogeneous medium predicts the nonlinearity of plastic flow at low lattice curvature and structural turbulence with the formation of individual dynamic rotations at high curvature of the deformed medium. The present work is devoted to the experimental verification of the theoretical predictions. Experimentally studied are the influence of high-temperature radial shear rolling and subsequent cold rolling on the internal structure of metastable Fe–Cr–Mn austenitic stainless steel, formation of nonequilibrium ε- and α′-martensite phases, appearance of dynamic rotations on fracture surfaces, fatigue life in alternating bending, and wear resistance of the material. Scratch testing reveals a strong increase in the damping effect in the formed hierarchical mesosubstructure. The latter is responsible for a nanocrystalline grain structure in the material, hcp ε martensite and bcc α′ martensite in grains, a vortical filamentary substructure on the fracture surface as well as for improved high-cycle fatigue and wear resistance of the material. This is related to a high concentration of nanoscale mesoscopic structural states, which arise in lattice curvature zones during high-temperature radial shear rolling combined with smooth-roll cold rolling. These effects are explained by the self-consistent mechanical behavior of hcp ε-martensite laths in fcc austenite grains and bcc α′-martensite laths that form during cold rolling of the steel subjected to high-temperature radial shear rolling.