Influence of deep rolling on the a'-martensite formation in the subsurface, geometrically necessary dislocations and corrosion resistance of austenitic stainless steel AISI 304

The influence of deep rolling (DR) parameters (speed, number of passes and pressure) on the equivalent total strain, a'-martensite formation, ultra-microhardness, microstructure, and corrosion resistance of an AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel was investigated. The results showed that increasing DR speed led to less heterogeneous strain distributions and relatively high ultra-microhardness, despite an overall reduction in strain and a'-martensite content. This increase in hardness was related to the rise of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) density, found to be one of the primary microstructural features influencing mechanical behavior under high DR speed. The increase in the number of passes elevated the intensity and depth of strain, leading to a 70% increase in the content of a'-martensite, ultra-microhardness, and producing severe grain refinement. The GNDs density decreased in the refined grain layer and increased sharply below it. Increased pressure induced similar results relative to the number of passes, with less impact. Improvement in the material properties is achieved through the interaction of parameters that result in an increase in the severity of the DR process, i.e, a reduction in speed and an increase in the number of passes and pressure. For severe DR conditions, the materials corrosion resistance in a 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution was significantly improved, with an increase of up to 2488% in the polarization resistance, as assesssed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In potentiodynamic polarization tests, the corrosion potential increased from an average value of -0.274 to -0.14 V, and the corrosion current density decreased by approximately 300%.