Papers - Surface Finish and Structure (T.P. 1318)

In a previous paper Burwell and Wulff1 have shown by electron diffraction studies that allotropic transformations can be induced in 18-8 stainless steel by polishing to a depth of about 5 X 10-5 cm. The development of a successful etching technique, which removes accountable amounts of metal from the surface without pitting and without changing the root-mean-square profile as measured with an Abbot pro-filometer, led to the application of the whole technique and material to an investigation of various mechanical methods of surface preparation, such as grinding, lapping, superfinishing and cold-rolling. Ideally suited to such a study is 18-8 of low carbon and nitrogen content. The material can be heat-treated to produce a coarse-grained single-phase structure. On cold deformation there occurs not only a reduction in grain size but, at regions of maximum stress, a change of face-centered material to body-centered material, provided the metal is worked below about 200°C. When worked between 200"about and 415°C., diffraction studies evidence a reduction in grain size without the appearance of any new body-centered ferrite. Ferrite, which can be referred also to strains induced by carbide precipitation, is evident when the material is worked at temperatures between 4150 and 800°C. Stainless steel is advantageous because the usual surface-finishing operations do not readily oxidize it to any appreciable depth. In order to produce detectable oxide films on the surface of austenitic 18-8 in a time equivalent to that required to produce, for example, a fine ground finish on 1/2 sq. in., the sample must be held in a furnace or oxygen stream above 600°C. By using longer heating times, it is possible to achieve measurable oxide films on samples , whose surface temperatures exceed only about 250°C. Experimental Procedure The apparatus, material, and technique described in the previous paper1 were employed in this investigation. Samples of 18-8, I by I cm. by 4 mm., were carefully annealed in the austenitic range to produce a coarse-grained structure. They were then quenched and pickled to remove scale, On a lapping machine of the Graton2 type, both sides of each sample were polished to a a of 1/6 a wave length of sodium D light. Thereafter they were electrolytically etched to remove at least 1 X 10-3 cm. of the surface, a depth that is well below that of any defermations induced by surface preparation. samples of this material, carefully mounted in steel holders, were then sent to various industrial organizations known for special finishing techniques. In the instrue ment shops at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology check samples were finished by the same methods, as far as they were available. Abbot profilometer3 readings Were made on all the samples, which were then carefully degreased in double distilled benzine and alcohol, dried in a hot-filtered air blast, and kept in a desiccator. SUC-