Stored energy in ultrafine-grained 316L stainless steel processed by high-pressure torsion

The energy stored in severely deformed ultrafine-grained (UFG) 316L stainless steel was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A sample was processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) for N = 10 turns. In the DSC thermogram, two peaks were observed. The first peak was exothermic and related to the annihilation of vacancies and dislocations. During this recovery, the phase composition and the average grain size were practically unchanged. The energy stored in dislocations was calculated and compared with the heat released in the exothermic DSC peak. The difference was related to the annihilation of vacancy-like defects with a concentration of ∼5.2 × 10−4. The second DSC peak was endothermic which was caused by a reversion of α′-martensite into γ-austenite, however in this temperature range dislocation annihilation and a moderate grain growth also occurred. The specific energy of the reverse martensitic phase transformation was determined as about −11.7 J/g.