Contribution of nitrogen concentration to compressive elastic modulus of 18Cr-12Mn-xN austenitic stainless steels developed by powder metallurgy

It has been reported that nitrogen atoms affect the elastic constants of austenitic stainless steels differently. In this study, the effect of nitrogen content on the compressive Young's modulus of nanostructured 18Cr-12Mn austenitic stainless steels is evaluated. The alloys are processed by mechanical alloying under a nitrogen gas atmosphere and subsequent sintering. The results show that by increasing the nitrogen concentration from 0.99 to 2.31 wt.%, the modulus progressively decreases. This is attributed to an increase in the volume of the unit cells and the weakening of the metallic bonds. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.