The generation of intergranular strains in 309H stainless steel under uniaxial loading

The generation of intergranular strains in 309H austenitic steel has been measured in situ up to 13.0% deformation by neutron diffraction. Experimental data have been obtained in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the tensile axis. Large tensile strains are observed for the (002) reflection along the tensile axis while the other reflections show relatively small intergranular effects. Both texture and residual strain states of the as-received and deformed samples have also been measured. The number of grains with [111] parallel to the tensile axis increases from x2 to x4 random texture and is coupled with a depletion of [220] grains in the same direction. The in situ experiments have been simulated with the EPSC model of Turner and Tome. The model tends to overestimate the intergranular strains in the directions perpendicular to the tensile axis.