In the present study, the effect of heat treatment and reversible cyclic plastic deformation (RCPD) on microstructure and mechanical properties of stainless steel 304L (SS304L) has been examined. The RCPD demonstrated a significant reduction in the grain size as well as formation of deformation-induced twins, without any observable phase transformation in the SS304L specimens. An isothermal annealing of as-received specimens at 950 °C (1223 K) for varying annealing durations exhibited the formation of recrystallized equiaxed austenitic microstructure. It was also observed that the grain size and the twin width increased simultaneously with annealing time, wherein the grain size increased linearly, whereas the increment in the twin width was parabolic in nature. The density of deformation twins decreased with increasing annealing time, which was attributed to the variation in the stacking fault energy (SFE) with temperature and duration of annealing treatment. The average hardness values decreased with increasing annealing time, and this trend was correlated with the increasing grain sizes and, simultaneously, decreasing amount of twin density.

在本研究中，研究了热处理和可逆循环塑性变形（RCPD）对不锈钢304L（SS304L）的组织和力学性能的影响。RCPD证明了晶粒尺寸的显着减小以及形变诱发孪晶的形成，而SS304L样品中没有任何可观察到的相变。在950°C（1223 K）下对原样进行等温退火以进行不同的退火时间，表现出重结晶的等轴奥氏体微观结构的形成。还观察到，晶粒尺寸和孪晶宽度随退火时间同时增加，其中晶粒尺寸线性增加，而孪晶宽度的增加本质上是抛物线形的。变形孪晶的密度随着退火时间的增加而降低，这归因于堆垛层错能（SFE）随温度和退火时间的变化。平均硬度值随退火时间的增加而降低，并且这种趋势与晶粒尺寸的增加以及孪晶密度的降低同时相关。