Mechanical behavior of a metastable austenitic stainless steel under simple and complex loading paths

This paper deals with the characterization and the modeling of the mechanical behavior of an unstable austenitic stainless steel that is commonly used in deep drawing processes. This steel exhibits a martensitic transformation at room temperature induced by plastic deformation during cold forming, which sometimes has an unfavorable influence on the final shape of the part. In order to improve the knowledge of this material, an extensive characterization of its mechanical behavior is performed using tensile and shear tests combined with eddy current measurements. The available material information enables the identification of a two-phase model of elastoviscoplastic type which integrates the knowledge of the initial microstructure and its evolution as a function of the inelastic strain. The model prediction is found to be accurate with respect to the experimental test results. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.