Low-temperature elastic properties of four austenitic stainless steels

Abstract

The elastic properties of four austenitic stainless steels—AISI 304, AISI 310, AISI 316, and A286—are reported over the temperature range 300–4 K. These properties include longitudinal modulus, shear modulus, Young’s modulus, bulk modulus (reciprocal compressibility), Poisson’s ratio, and elastic Debye temperature. Elastic constants were determined from measurements of longitudinal and transverse sound‐wave velocities using an ultrasonic (10 MHz) pulse‐superposition method. Measurements were made in the absence of a magnetic field; these alloys undergo paramagnetic‐to‐antiferromagnetic transitions at low temperatures. For all four alloys, the shear modulus behaves regularly with respect to temperature. The other elastic constants, all of which have a dilatational component, decrease anomalously at temperatures below 80 K. The largest anomaly, about 3%, is in the bulk mudulus of the 304 alloy; this modulus is lower at 0 K than at 300 K. Results are interpreted on the basis of the Döring effect, which results from a large volume magnetostriction in the magnetic phase. This may be the first report of a Döring effect in antiferromagnetic materials.