Significant impact of cold-rolling deformation and annealing on damping capacity of Fe–Mn–Cr alloy

The influences of cold-rolling deformation and annealing on the damping capacity of Fe–19Mn–8Cr alloy were investigated. It was observed that the cold-rolled Fe–19Mn–8Cr alloy with a reduction of 10% showed the relatively excellent damping capacity because of the relatively more ε-martensite and lower dislocation density, and the reduction of slopes of different damping curves increased along with increasing the cold-rolling reduction. Besides, the subsequent annealing process can further enhance the damping capacity. After 70% cold-rolling deformation, the austenite grain would grow up with the increase in the annealing temperature, which resulted in a significant change in the content and morphology of ε-martensite influencing the damping capacity of the experimental steel. The damping capacity was optimum when annealed at 800 °C for 30 min, displaying that the size of ε-martensite has a vital influence on the damping capacity of the experimental alloy. This study may enrich the fundamental knowledge about how to ameliorate the damping capacity of Fe–Mn–Cr damping steels.