Structural aspects of work hardening in intermediate-class steels

Kh16N6 steel tested in the temperature range where stable austenite or martensite exists will give plastic-range stress-strain curves in compression and tension that can be approximated as σ(ε) = Kεⁿ, in which the parameters are dependent on the degree of depletion of the austenite of alloying elements during carbide formation, as well as on the balance between the cooling martensite and the deformation martensite.

A steel with the stable-austenite structure has a linear relationship between the yield stress and the dislocation-density function [ρ(ε)]^1/2; an analytical expression has been derived for the stress-strain relationship for Kh16N6 steel having the martensite structure, which incorporates the characteristic narrowing of the α-phase x-ray lines.

Kh16N6 steel with a two-phase metastable-austenite-martensite structure gives an analytic expression for the stress-strain diagram in which corrections can be applied for the residual austenite and deformation martensite, as well as for the work hardening of the austenite and martensite.