AbstractA study of the tensile flow behavior in the microstrain region of a martensitic stainless steel within the temperature range 77–273 K has been carried out. The ductility and work hardening in the low‐temperature region were found to be significantly larger than those of the ambient at temperatures where alloy softening was taking place. Thermal‐activation analysis of data has attributed the low‐temperature deformation behavior to the operation of the Peierls mechanism. While the Dorn–Rajnak model was found to fit the data, the observed alloy softening was attributed to the operation of an intrinsic mechanism that promoted the double‐kink formation on dislocations within a limited temperature range below ambient. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)