Abstract
Free surface roughening of polycrystalline austenitic stainless steels during tensile and deep drawing deformation is investigated using scanning white light interferometry. A fractal analysis method is applied to analyse the surface profile data in two directions which are perpendicular to each other. It is shown that the surface profile is fractal within the length and is on the same order of magnitude as the grain size. The Hurst exponent H of the two deformation modes in different directions stabilises at H≈0·85. While the correlation lengths are different, the value in the longitudinal direction is about two times larger than the one in the transverse direction. The relationship between root mean square roughness and strain appears to be linear, and the roughening rate in tensile deformation is larger than the one in deep drawing deformation.
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