Characterization of nanocrystallised multilayered metallic materials produced by the SMAT followed by constrained compression

Abstract Nanocrystallised multilayered metallic material was obtained via duplex technique combining the surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) with a novel constrained compression (CC) process. At the initial stage the 1 mm thick sheets of 316L austenitic stainless steel were processed by the SMAT in order to form a nanocrystalline structure. At the final stage disc-shaped plates excised from SMATed sheets, were assembled in a package and compressed in order to produce metallurgical bonding between individual plates. The characterization of such a multilayered structure was studied both experimentally and numerically. The microscopic examination revealed that the bonding occurred in the central portions of the package where the oxide scale covering each plate was fragmented by high shear strains. The numerical analysis confirmed that the strains at the interior interfaces are significantly higher than at the external ones. A high degree of structural inhomogeneity was observed via TEM studies in the regions where the successful bonding was achieved. Regions characterised by fine band structure with the presence of α′-martensite phase as well as coarse cellular structure within a single γ-austenite phase were identified.