Superficial Grain Refinement of 316L Stainless Steel by Rolling with Rough Rolls

This study presents a novel approach to producing superficial micro- and nanostructures using a cold rolling process with rough rolls, followed by low-temperature annealing. The proposed technique attempts to recreate the superficial deformation occurring in the sandblasting process. It allows for the generation of an inhomogeneous network, or tangle, of high-deformation zones on the material’s surface that act as nucleation centers during the subsequent annealing process. However, the proposed method has a significant advantage over sandblasting: it is a continuous process with high productivity. An austenitic stainless-steel sheet, previously normalized, was used as the raw material. The samples were cold rolled using rough rolls (rhombic-based pyramids of 2.08 mm, 1.04 mm, and 1.5 mm in length, width, and height, respectively) and annealed at temperatures between 200 °C and 400 °C for one hour. An optical and electronic microstructure analysis showed the presence of small, heterogeneously distributed surface grains of 200–300 nm in diameter. Finite element analysis revealed significant deformation that was inhomogeneous and likely responsible for the uneven distribution of the recrystallized grains. Additionally, surface nanohardness results showed a 20% increase with respect to the central zone of the material. Finally, wear tests of the treated samples showed lower wear than samples rolled with conventional rolls.