Abstract

316L stainless steel plates of 5-mm thickness, normalized at 900 A degrees C, were cold rolled with different reductions and number of passes using rolls with three different surface roughnesses: grain heights of 0.17 and 0.33 mm and rhomboid-shaped grains of 1.5-mm height. Subsequently, the rolled samples were annealed at 275 A degrees C for 1 h in an effort to achieve superficial nanograins. The plates laminated using low-roughness rolls had continuous superficial microcrystallization when they were rolled for at least 26 passes. For samples made with rougher rolls, the recrystallized superficial grains formed on the surface (sized similar to 10-15 mu m) were smaller than those below the surface; this behavior was caused by the major deformation induced by repeated indentations. The superficial recrystallization of the sample also tended to be more continuous for higher number of passes; micrographs of the penetration profiles of indentation in the samples rolled with high-roughness rolls revealed that a sample rolled 24 times had not yet reached the steady surface topology. As a conclusion, in order to successfully form superficial nanograins, very low-roughness rolls must be used as well as a small absolute reduction per pass, followed by annealing. These rolling conditions generate a continuous field of highly superficial deformations, which act as nucleation centers for nanograins during annealing.