Effect of solidification mode on hot ductility of austenitic stainless steels

Abstract

The effects of solidification mode and ferrite content on the hot ductility of austenitic stainless steels were investigated by means of hot bend testing. The test materials were continuously cast slabs of types 304,316, and 317 in the as-cast condition. A critical review of the literature was used to compare the hot ductility with that measured by tensile testing and to investigate the combined effect of impurities and solidification mode. The optimum hot ductility is obtained when the solidification mode is primary ferritic and the ferrite content is low. Primary austenitic solidification reduces hot ductility and decreases tolerance levels for impurity contents.