High-speed Continuous Equal Channel Angular Pressing of 316 LVM stainless steel

•Demonstrated high shear deformation of stainless steel at industrial speeds.•Determined conditions for stable high shear deformation processing.•Observed that sub-micron grains resist shear instability.•Achieved strengths above 1 GPa while exceeding 20% elongation to failure. ContinuousEqual Channel Angular Pressing (C-ECAP) is aHigh Shear Deformation (HSD) processingmethodthat has been shown to improve the mechanical properties of many alloys.While laboratory-scale ECAP machines have successfully produced microstructures that enhance strength and other properties, theirslowprocessing rate is a barrier to their widespread adoption by themetals productionindustry. To determine the viability of high-speed HSD production of a commercial alloy, 316 LVM stainless steel was subject to C-ECAP at speeds up to 42.5 mm/second to produce billets with repeatable tensile strengths exceeding 1000 MPa. The high-rate shear induced intersecting shear bands but they did not develop into shear cracks.