Effect of annealing temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cold-rolled 430 stainless steel

The effects of annealing temperature on the microstructure,strength,elongation and anisotropy properties of cold-rolled 430 stainless steel were studied by continuous annealing experiment. An available double-heating section annealing process is obtained for the cold-rolled steel as the following:the intermediate and the maximum annealing temperature are 600 and 840℃,respectively,and the heating rate of the second heating section is maintained at 2.3℃·s^-1. As continuous annealing proceeds,the mechanical properties of the strip have great changes:when the annealing temperature rises,the yield strength and hardness decrease by a two-stage trend,the elongation sigmoidally increases,the mean Lankford value remains at a level of approximately 1.25,and the variation of Lankford value on the rolling plane has apparent decrease. Quantitative relationships between yield strength and softening fraction and between yield strength and elongation are determined for the cold-rolled steel.