Strain induced grain boundary migration effects on grain growth of an austenitic stainless steel during static and metadynamic recrystallization

Static and metadynamic recrystallization of an AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel was investigated at 1100°C and 10−2s−1 strain rate. The kinetics of recrystallization was determined through double hit compression tests. Two strain levels were selected for the first compression hit: εf=0.15 for static recrystallization (SRX) and 0.25 for metadynamic recrystallization (MDRX). Both the as-deformed and the recrystallized microstructures were investigated through optical microscopy and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) technique. During deformation, strain induced grain boundary migration appeared to be significant, producing a square-like grain boundary structure aligned along the directions of the maximum shear stresses in compression. EBSD analysis revealed to be as a fundamental technique that the dislocation density was distributed heterogeneously in the deformed grains. Grain growth driven by surface energy reduction was also investigated, finding that it was too slow to explain the experimental data. Based on microstructural results, it was concluded that saturation of the nucleation sites occurred in the first stages of recrystallization, while grain growth driven by strain induced grain boundary migration (SIGBM) dominated the subsequent stages. •Recrystallization behavior of a stainless steel was investigated at 1100°C.•EBSD revealed that the dislocation density distribution was heterogeneous during deformation.•Saturation of nucleation sites occurred in the first stages of recrystallization.•Strain induced grain boundary migration (SIGBM) effects were significant.•Grain growth driven by SIGBM dominated the subsequent stages.