The hot deformation behaviour of three AISI 304 (H, L and lip) austenitic s
tainless steel with difficult carbon contents has been studied. An analysis
of the parameters describing their hot flow curves was carried out. No hea
vy effect of the carbon content was found on most of the latter parameters.
However, the work hardening and dynamic recovery behaviour showed clear di
fferences depending on the given alloy, especially at high temperatures and
low strain rates where the high carbon steel displayed larger work hardeni
ng and dynamic recovery rates than the other steels. The high purity steel
(interstitial free) displayed the lower stress levels as its hardening rate
was slower than in the other two steels.