Effect of equal channel angular pressing on the microstructure and tribocorrosion characteristics of 316L stainless steel

The tribocorrosion behaviour of equal channel angular pressed (ECAP) 316L austenitic stainless steel was studied. ECAP process had resulted in significant grain reduction from 38 +/- 9 mu m to 3 +/- 1 mu m after the 4th pass. Grain refinement had improved hardness up to-141% and enhanced the strength by at least-64% in the 4th pass sample. The 4th pass sample shows minimum wear volume loss and a low coefficient of friction during the tribocorrosion due to refined grains that show high resistance to plastic deformation. The open circuit potential (OCP) curve of ECAP-processed samples shifts to a more negative potential (-0.39 V) than the solutionized (-0.35 V) one. Due to the high wear resistance or less wear depth of ECAP processed samples, a minimal shift was observed. The surface morphology of the wear track confirms that abrasive wear prevails in all the samples.