Metal Science and Heat Treatment, Vol. 53, Nos. 1 – 2, May, 2011 (Russian Original Nos.

1 – 2, January – February, 2011)

CORROSION-RESISTANT STEELS
UDC 669.14.018.8

EFFECT OF ELASTOPLASTIC DEFORMATION ON THE STRUCTURE

AND MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF HIGH-STRENGTH
CORROSION-RESISTANT AUSTENITIC STEEL
OF TYPE 03Kh20AG11N7M2

S. Yu. Mitropol’skaya,1, 2 D. I. Vichuzhanin,1 V. V. Berezovskaya,2 and E. A. Tueva1, 2, 3

Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 2, pp. 17 – 21, February, 2011.

The influence of heat treatment modes (hardening and aging) and uniaxial tension on the structure and mag-
netic properties of carbonless high-strength corrosion-resistant steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2 containing 0.4% N
and having a structure of austenite + 10% d-ferrite is studied. The coercive force, the residual induction, and
the magnetization of a specimen in a maximum applied field are detected under the action of a load over the
whole of the stress – strain curve until the formation of a neck. The magnetization and the coercive force of
the steel increase under the action of plastic deformation. The deformation behavior of the magnetic characte-
ristics is discussed with allowance for the special features of the structural state of the material.

Key words: nitrogen austenitic steel, uniaxial tension, coercive force, maximum magnetization.

INTRODUCTION METHODS OF STUDY

The aim of optimization of the chemical composition and
regimes of heat treatment of structural austenitic steels of the
Fe – Cr – Mn – Ni – N system consists in obtaining high me-
chanical properties and corrosion resistance without lower-
ing the stability of magnetic properties of articles. The
strength level of these steels depends much on the content of
nitrogen in them [1, 2]. It is known that nitrogen alloying
makes its possible to eliminate formation of secondary car-
bides and s-phase, which embrittle the metal, and to stabilize
the austenite with respect to the austenite ® ferrite and aus-
tenite ® martensite phase transformations in crystallization
and temperature and force actions, especially at high enough
concentrations of chromium and molybdenum in the steel.
Alloying with nitrogen or jointly with nitrogen and molybde-
num eliminates the susceptibility of steels of this type to lo-
cal kinds of corrosion [3, 4].
1
Institute for Mechanical Engineering of the Ural Branch of the
Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, Russia.
2
Ural Federal University in the Name of the First President of Rus-
sia B. N. Eltsyn, Ekaterinburg, Russia.
3
E-mail: mitr@imach.uran.ru.
We studied the structure, mechanical, corrosion, and
magnetic properties of steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2 bearing
0.4% N after hardening from 1000°C in water and after hard-
ening followed by aging at 500°C for 2 h. The chemical com-
position of the steel in mass percent was follows: 0.030 C,
0.422 N, 10.60 Mn, 0.50 Si, 0.015 P, 0.004 S, 19.62 Cr,
6.81 Ni, 1.67 Mo, 0.22 V.
Cylindrical five-fold specimens of type IV (GOST 1497)
were stretched discretely at room temperature in a universal
testing machine (Pmax = 50 kN); the active grip was moved at
a rate of 1 mm/min. The loading process was stopped in ev-
ery 0.5 kN, and the saturation hysteresis loops were recorded
with the help of a Remagraph C-500 device in an in-situ
mode under load in a closed magnetic circuit at maximum
applied internal field of 60 kA/m. The obtained hysteresis
loops were used to determine the coercive force Hc and the
magnetization in the maximum applied field m0 Mmax , where
m0 is the magnetic constant and m0 = 4p ´ 10 – 7 H/m. Prior
to each measurement and after it the specimen was demagne-
tized.

65
0026-0673/11/0102-0065 © 2011 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
66 S. Yu. Mitropol’skaya et al.

scope equipped with the VEGA software. The microhardness

of the structural components was determined using a LEICA
Àustenite device using the Materials Workstation software at a load
of 5 g.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

d-ferrite
à 10 mm
Àustenite
d-ferrite
b 10 mm
Fig. 1. Microstructure of steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2 after hardening
(a) and after hardening and aging (b ), ´ 1500.
Tests for stress corrosion cracking (SCC) were per-
formed by the method of pure bending of prismatic speci-
mens (55 ´ 10 ´ 10 mm) with V-notch in 3.5% solution of
NaCl of room temperature for 500 h. The degree of softening
due to the SCC was evaluated in terms of the relative de-
crease in the ultimate rupture strength Ds/sr . The decrease
in the strength Ds under the action of the corrosive medium
was determined by the formula
Ds = (sr – sth )/sr , %,
where sr is the ultimate rupture strength or the stress at fail-
ure (sf ) without the action of corrosive medium, sth is the
threshold stress below which failure does not occur at the
specified test time of 500 H.
The microstructure was studied using a NEOPHOT-32
light microscope and a TESCAN scanning electron micro-
The results of mechanical and corrosion tests of steel
03Kh20AG11N7M2 are presented in Table 1. The strength
and ductility characteristics are high enough for the given
class of materials, as well as the resistance to SCC after hard-
ening, and do not lower substantially after the hold at 500°C.
After hardening from 1100°C the structure of the steel
consists of a nonferromagnetic matrix (austenite grains of
polyhedral shape with a size of about 20 mm and high density
of annealing twins) and ferromagnetic inclusions of particles
of d-ferrite in an amount of up to about 10%. These particles
are localized primarily on junctions of grain boundaries
(Fig. 1a ). The microhardness of these structural components
is presented in Table 2. The presence of a ferromagnetic
phase is also proved by the hysteresis of the magnetic prop-
erties; the magnetization in the maximum applied field
m0 Mmax = 26 mT and the coercive force Hc = 1.19 kA/m
(Table 1).
A hold at 500°C does not introduce visible changes into
the structure of the steel (Fig. 1b ) observed with the help of
light microscopy. However, electron microscopy and micro-
scopic diffraction analysis have shown [5] that a hold at
500°C causes homogeneous decomposition of the austenite
and yields fine nitrides of type CrN uniformly distributed in
austenite grains. It can be seen from Table 1 that aging pro-
motes growth in the strength and some decrease in the ducti-
lity as compared to hardening, while the hardness of the aus-
tenite increases by 15% (Table 2). Comparing the magnetic
characteristics of the hardened and aged specimens we can
hardly associate the growth in the magnetization in maxi-
mum applied field m0 Mmax with the content of d-ferrite in the
structure, while as a result of the hold at 500°C it does not
change and remains equal to about 10%. Most probably, the
growth in m0 Mmax is a result of the removal of stresses in the
d-ferrite, which commonly lower the magnetization. In addi-
tion, the growth in the magnetization may be promoted by an
increase in the permeability of the austenite due to the segre-

TABLE 1. Mechanical and Magnetic Properties of Steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2

Heat treatment mode s0.2 , MPa sr , MPa d, % y, % s0.2 /sr Hc , kA/m m0 Mmax , mT sf , MPa sth , MPa Ds /sf , %
Hardening from 1100°C
in water 485 820 49 68 0.59 1.19/1.18 26/33 1990 1470 26
Hardening + aging
at 500°C, 2 h 540 910 34 67 0.59 1.36/1.36 28/35 2100 1300 37

Note. The numerators present the values of magnetic characteristics after heat treatment; the denominators present the values after deformation
to maximum uniform elongation.
Effect of Elastoplastic Deformation on the Structure and Magnetic Properties of Steel of Type 03Kh20AG11N7M2 67

s, ÌPà
à
1200 2
1
1000

800 Slip bands

d-ferrite
600

400
Àustenite
200 10 mm

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 e, % b

Fig. 2. “Stress – strain” diagrams of steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2 after d-ferrite

hardening (1 ) and after hardening and aging (2 ).

gation of chromium from the g-solid solid solution and for-
mation of nitrides.
The “stress-strain” diagrams (Fig. 2) reflect some growth
in the susceptibility of the steel to strain-induced hardening
after aging. In both studied structural states the strain harden-
ing of the steel due to tensile stresses exceeding the yield
strength (> 550 MPa) manifests itself in elevation of the
microhardness of both austenite and d-ferrite (Table 2).
Figure 3 presents the results of microstructural studies in
the cross section of both hardened and aged rupture speci-
mens in the range of uniform elongation of the functional
part of the specimens at a distance of 10 mm from the neck.
In the plane of the lap we observe slip bands typical for
austenitic steels, which primarily intersect at an angle of 60°,
which may indicate that the processes of dislocation slip is
limited. The microhardness of these regions for hardened and
aged states is 455 and 475 HV0.05, respectively, which is
10 – 15% higher than the microhardness of the surrounding
austenite free of slip lines (Table 2). The microhardness of
the plastically strained austenite free of dislocation lines is
quite high and virtually does not differ for the hardened and
aged states (405 and 415 HV0.05, respectively).
We can single out two zones on rupture specimens after
both modes of heat treatment, i.e., (1 ) a core with typical
TABLE 2. Microhardness of Structural Components of Steel
03Kh20AG11N7M2
Microhardness HV0.05 of structural components
after heat treatment
Structural
components hardening +
hardening + hardening +
hardening
aging tension
aging + ten-
sion
Austenite 280 320 405
d-ferrite 300 285 355
Regions of austenite
with slip lines – – 455
Slip bands
Àustenite 10 mm
Fig. 3. Microstructure of steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2 in cross section
of rupture specimens after tensile deformation (´ 1500): a) after
hardening; b ) after hardening and aging.
dimple fracture reflecting considerable plastic strain during
formation of the neck (Fig. 4a and c) and (2 ) a near-surface
layer with fine flat dimples, which is characterized by low lo-
cal plastic strain (Fig. 4b and d ). On the boundary separating
these zones we observe microcracks and cleavage regions
commensurable with the size of austenite grains and associ-
ated with the regions of elevated density of slip lines in the
grains.
Figure 5a presents variation of the coercive force of the
steel under the action of applied tensile stresses. As the
stresses increase to about 0.9s0.2 (440 MPa), the coercive
force Hc of the hardened specimens is almost halved, most
probably due to the positive magnetoelastic effect that pro-
motes reversal magnetization of the d-ferrite over the direc-
tion of application of the load. The growth in the coercive
force at a stress exceeding the yield point seems to be caused
by strain hardening of d-ferrite.
Under the action of tensile stresses of up to 200 MPa
the coercive force of aged specimens remains virtually un-
changed. Then it decreases by 15% attaining Hc = 1.17 kA/m
at 300 MPa and remains constant until s ~ 650 MPa, which
constitutes about 1.2s0.2 . The noticeable growth in the coer-
415 cive force at stresses exceeding 400 MPa (in hardened state)
475 and above 700 MPa (in aged state) seems to be connected
with the growth in the dislocation density, which accom-
475
panies plastic straining, in the d-ferrite inclusive. At
68
à 500 mm b 50 mm
500 mm
c d
s ~ 800 MPa, which corresponds to 1.4s0.2 , the values of Hc
in aged specimens stabilize, and this may be a sign of the oc-
currence of strain aging in this stage predominantly in the
austenite instead of the d-ferrite.
In the whole of the “stress-strain” diagram the austenite
of the studied steel remains stable with respect to the g ® a¢
and g ® e transformations. This can be inferred from the fol-
lowing facts. All the studied specimens remain little mag-
netic in plastically strained condition (m0 Mmax £ 0.035 T).
The values of the coercive force measured under load in the
plastic range do not exceed its initial value (after heat treat-
ment). The diffractograms (not presented in this paper) do
not exhibit new maximums. Electron microscopy and
microdiffraction do not show formation of martensite in the
structure either [5].
However, the magnetization m0 Mmax of the steel is weak
in both structural states but increases weakly but steadily in
the whole range of the studied stresses and strains (Fig. 5b ).
Near the yield point the curves exhibit an inflection, after
which the growth of m0 Mmax occurs more intensely. Under
elastic tension the growth in the magnetization m0 Mmax may
be caused by partial compensation of the residual compres-
sive stresses induced by heat treatment. Upon transition to
S. Yu. Mitropol’skaya et al.
Fig. 4. Fracture surfaces of rupture spe-
cimens from steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2:
a, b ) after hardening; c, d ) after hard-
100 mm ening and aging; a) ´ 100, b ) ´ 1000;
c) ´ 200; d ) ´ 850.
the plastic tension range, when strain-induced point defects
start to be generated in the material, the growth in the magne-
tization of the steel may also be caused by strain-induced lo-
cal redistribution of the alloying elements. It has been shown
earlier in [6] for stable austenitic Fe – Cr – Ni steels that the
redistribution of nickel under the action of plastic strain at
20°C causes formation of high-nickel ferromagnetic austen-
ite clusters 3 – 5 nm in size in a paramagnetic matrix. In the
steel studied by us the redistribution of the alloying elements
initiated by transfer of strain-induced point defects may be
intensified by an elevated (up to 12 wt.%) content of magne-
sium (an element with high diffusion mobility). However, in
our magnetic measurements it was impossible to differentiate
between the magnetization of the austenitic matrix and the
magnetization of the particles of d-ferrite. In order to prove
the hypothesis we should resort to fine methods of structure
study, for example, the well-reputed field-ion microscopy [6].
CONCLUSIONS
1. Aging of carbonless high-strength corrosion-resistant
steel of type 03Kh20AG11N7M2 with 0.4% N at 500°C
raises inconsiderably its magnetization in a maximum ap-
Effect of Elastoplastic Deformation on the Structure and Magnetic Properties of Steel of Type 03Kh20AG11N7M2 69

Hc , kÀ/m
firmed by the low magnetization and low coercive force, the
1.4
values of which do not grow with respect to the undeformed
state. The low increase in the magnetization in the maximum
2
1.2 applied field upon tension may be a result of strain-induced
local redistribution of alloying elements accompanied by the
1 appearance of ferromagnetic clusters in the austenite.
1.0
3. The growth in the coercive force upon plastic straining
seems to be caused by strain-induced hardening of the
0.8 d-ferrite.
4. The results obtained present practical interest for
choosing the heat treatment mode and determining the maxi-
0.6 mum permissible force actions on components of construc-
0 200 400 600 800 s, ÌPà
tions from steels of the studied type under the condition of
preservation of stability of their magnetic characteristics.
m0 Mmax , Ò
The work has been performed with partial support of the
0.034 Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant 10-08-96057).

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Fig. 5. Coercive force Hc (a) and magnetization in maximum ap-
plied field m0 Mmax (b ) for steel 03Kh20AG11N7M2 after different
modes of heat treatment as a function of the applied tensile stresses:
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