Synopsis A hot-rolled sheet of 18 /° Cr stainless steel was quenched from 1200 °C, a temperature in (cc +r) region, and annealed at 800 °C to provide a variety of microstructures with ferrite and transformation products from austenite in order to correlate the ridging phenomena and the microsegregation of Cr and C. (1) Microsegregation of Cr, i.e., enrichment in ferrite and depletion in prior austenite, is preserved after annealing for 20 hr. (2) Carbon, segregated in prior austenite region, is

more »

... gradually homogenized, and precipitation of chromium carbide proceeds in the prior austenite region in the annealing process. (3) Inhomogeneous distribution of carbides and microsegregation of Cr are not homogenized in the single stage cold rolling and annealing process. (4) The annealing process induces softening and tempering of martensite, but the microstructural changes do not affect the ridging profile after cold rolling and annealing. (5) Size and spacing of the microsegregation region of Cr and C are nearly in the same order to the smaller undulation in the ridging profile. *