The Effect of Heat Treatment on Springing of AISI301

AISI 301 stainless steel is a frequently used metal, especially in high temperature demands and or in part with high corrosion risk. Thin spring steel plates can be used as expansions of heat furnaces insulation and variety of all other springs. The present study has assessed the effects of temperature and thermal treatment time span on the microstructure of stainless steel 301 to achieve elasticity and found out that microstructure gets smaller. As well as the Martensitic ά phase in the sample distributes uniformly after thermal treatment at 450 ºC for 20 minutes then water quenched in 10 ºC. By using X-ray diffraction, it can be found that the reduction in crystalline size of the Martensite ά and increasing in Martensite volume fraction is the cause of the elasticity of the samples. All obtained results confirmed by Ferittscope test.