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Acta Metall Sin  2026, Vol. 62 Issue (4): 561-571    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00044
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Microstructural Control and Tribological Behavior of High-Nitrogen 316LN Austenitic Stainless Steel
ZHAO Liyuan1, LI Xiaolin1(), DING Ran2, DENG Xiangtao3, FENG Hao4(), LI Huabing4, WANG Haifeng1
1.State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
2.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300354, China
3.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
4.School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Cite this article: 

ZHAO Liyuan, LI Xiaolin, DING Ran, DENG Xiangtao, FENG Hao, LI Huabing, WANG Haifeng. Microstructural Control and Tribological Behavior of High-Nitrogen 316LN Austenitic Stainless Steel. Acta Metall Sin, 2026, 62(4): 561-571.

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Abstract  

Traditional austenitic stainless steel (ASS) faces challenges in operating safely under low-temperature sliding wear conditions because of its relatively low strength and hardness. To address this issue, this study focused on high-nitrogen 316LN ASSs. Through controlled rolling and annealing, three microstructures were designed: non-recrystallized, heterogeneous, and fully recrystallized microstructures (marked by NG, HS, and CG structures, respectively). The influence of environmental temperature and microstructure on the tribological behavior and wear mechanisms of high-nitrogen 316LN ASSs was investigated. The results demonstrate that the HS structure exhibits the lowest friction coefficient because the reduced number of abrasive particles limits the direct contact between the worn surface and the counterpart, outperforming the NG and CG structures. As the environmental temperature decreases, the wear rates of all the structures decrease, with the lowest wear rate observed at -120 oC. At this temperature, the CG structure exhibits the lowest wear rate—surpassing the NG and HS structures—attributed to its low stacking-fault energy, inducing martensitic transformation and forming a nano/submicron crystalline hardened layer. This layer effectively prevents crack propagation and enhances wear resistance. Although martensitic transformation and surface hardening also occur in the HS structure, the wear debris generated during sliding acts as a third-body abrasive, accelerating wear and degrading wear resistance. In contrast, the CG structure, which exhibits excellent low-temperature plastic deformation ability, shows only mild abrasion during the wear process.

Key words:  high-nitrogen steel      low-temperature friction      wear mechanism     
Received:  17 February 2025     
ZTFLH:  TG142.25  
Fund: National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFB3705300);National Natural Science Foundation of China(52374403);National Natural Science Foundation of China(U23A20613);National Natural Science Foundation of China(52004224);Research Fund of Analytical & Testing Center(2023-T-009);State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing of Northwestern Polytechnical University(2021-TS-10)

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00044     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2026/V62/I4/561

Fig.1  Schematics of rolling and annealing treatment (RT—room temperature, LNT—liquid-nitrogen temperature. Insets are schematics of the microstructure of corresponding steels)
Fig.2  EBSD analyses of high-nitrogen steels under different heat treatments of 800 oC for 135 s (a1-a4), 800 oC for 330 s (b1-b4), and 1000 oC for 120 s (c1-c4) (a1-c1) phase and band contrast maps (a2-c2) grain boundary and twin boundary maps (a3-c3) kernel average misorientation (KAM) maps (a4-c4) grain orientation spread (GOS) maps
Fig.3  Coefficient of friction (CoF) curves of high-nitrogen steels with different structures at cryogenic temperatures
(a) non-recrystallized (NG) structure
(b) heterogeneous (HS) structure
(c) fully recrystallized (CG) structure
Fig.4  Wear rates of high-nitrogen steels with different structure at cryogenic temperatures
Fig.5  Cross-sectional depth curves of worn surface of high-nitrogen steels with different structures
(a) NG structure
(b) HS structure
(c) CG structure
Fig.6  SEM images of worn morphologies of high-nitrogen steels with different structures at cryogenic temperatures of 0 oC (a-c), -60 oC (d-f), and -120 oC (g-i) (Insets are low magnified SEM images) (a, d, g) NG structures (b, e, h) HS structures (c, f, i) CG structures
Fig.7  TEM analyses of the worn cross section of high-nitrogen steel HS structure at -120 ℃ (a, a1-a3) overall morphology of the FIB analysis area (a) and corresponding SAED analyses of areas a1-a3 in Fig.7a (a1-a3), respectively (b-d) dark field (DF) images corresponding to yellow circle areas in Figs.7a1-a3, respectively (e) overall morphology and TEM analysis area (purple area) of FIB specimen (f) SAED analysis of red circle area in Fig.7a (g) DF image of yellow circle area in Fig.7f
Fig.8  TEM analyses of the worn cross section of high-nitrogen steel CG structure at -120 ℃ (a, a1-a3) overall morphology of the FIB analysis area (a) and corresponding SAED analyses of areas a1-a3 in Fig.8a (a1-a3), respectively (b-d) DF images corresponding to yellow circle areas in Figs.8a1-a3, respectively (e) overall morphology and TEM analysis area (purple area) of FIB specimen (f) SAED analysis of purple circle area in Fig.8a (g) DF image of yellow circle area in Fig.8f
Fig.9  Schematic showing the wear mechanism of high-nitrogen steel CG structure at -120 oC
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