Unusual plastic deformation behavior in lath martensitic steel containing high dislocation density

Harjo, S.   ; Kawasaki, Takuro   ; Tomota, Yo*; Gong, W.

To understand the strengthening mechanism of a metallic material with high dislocation density, the plastic deformation behavior of lath martensite was studied by means of in situ neutron diffraction measurements during tensile deformations using a 22SiMn2TiB steel and a Fe-18Ni alloy. The characteristics of dislocation were analyzed and were discussed with the relation of stress-strain curves. The dislocation densities induced by martensitic transformation during heat-treatment in both materials were found to be originally as high as 10 m order, and subsequently to increase slightly by the tensile deformation. The parameter M value which displays the dislocation arrangement dropped drastically at the beginning of plastic deformation in both materials, indicating that the random arrangement became more like a dipole arrangement.