Role of grain boundary nature and residual strain in controlling sensitisation of type 304 stainless steel

Abstract The effects of residual strain and grain boundary character distribution on sensitisation of type 304 stainless steel at 525 °C were evaluated using electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation (EPR) technique. The results indicated that a very low level of residual strain and a high fraction of annealing twins significantly improved the resistance to sensitisation. Image analysis indicated that the fraction of area attacked during the EPR test correlated well with the EPR data. The volume loss, calculated using atomic force microscopic examinations, during the EPR tests also correlated well with the EPR results.