Speaker
Description
Understanding the origins of local mechanical behaviour is crucial for developing novel steel grades. Here, the mechanical properties of metastable, lean alloyed ferritic-austenitic stainless steels were investigated using nanoindentation mapping. The level of metastability was modified through alloying, resulting in different austenite fractions ranging from 17 to 50 %. For nanoindentation, A 50 x 40 indentation grid (2000 indents) was performed on each sample. The analysis combined nanoindentation mapping, electron microscopy, and K-means clustering to extract meaningful insights from the extensive dataset. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) provided detailed microstructural information, such as phase distribution and crystallographic orientation, while nanoindentation mapping enabled the phase-specific analysis of mechanical properties. Additionally, variations within the ferrite grains were detected with the steel containing low austenite phase fractions, however these observed varitions within the ferrite grains remain unclear.