Ultrasonic velocity measurements for characterizing the annealing behaviour of cold worked austenitic stainless steel

Precise measurements of shear wave velocities have been made in 20% cold worked and annealed samples of alloy D9 (Ti-modified austenitic stainless steel) to characterize the microstructural changes during annealing. The variation in wave velocity with annealing time exhibited a three stage behaviour. In the first stage, a slight increase in the velocity during recovery regime has been observed. This is followed by a significant increase in the velocity in the recrystallization regime (second stage) and reaching saturation on completion of recrystallization (third stage). Microstructural observations using optical metallography confirmed these three stages. The maximum variation in velocity is observed only when the polarization or the propagation direction of the shear wave is alingned with the cold working direction. Variation in shear wave velocity during annealing process, in general, is just opposite to that of the variation in longitudinal wave velocity. A number of velocity measurements were made by changing the propagation and polarization directions of the shear waves with respect to the cold working direction. Based on these measurements, a suitable velocity ratio parameter is suggested for determining the degree of recrystallization during annealing of cold worked alloy D9. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.