Studies on the Mechanism of Work Hardening of Austenitic High Manganese Steel Alloyed with Chromium and Vanadium

This article studies the mechanism of work hardening of austenitic high manganese steel alloyed with chromium and vanadium. The steel was annealed at 650°C before austenitizing at 1100°C, and then was quenched with water. We have observed that after the heat treatment, the size of austenite grain was small (1,950μm2 - level 6). The hardness of the steel was 223HB and the toughness was 115J/cm2. After impact loading, there was no martensite but twinning and sliding in the microstructure of the steel. The nano austenite was found in the microstructure. The steel was also hardened by small austenite grain and the carbide particles were finely dispersed in the microstructure.