The influence of prior cold work on the stress strain behavior of a type 316 stainless steel is investigated at 300 K. The Ludwigson relation and the often cited explanation for the Ludwigson type stress strain behavior found in stainless steels to a changeover from planar slip to cross slip is reexamined. It appears that the Ludwigson type behavior is more a consequence of a structure sensitive "hardness state" of the material. This "hardness state" is expressed in terms of an equivalent plastic strain epsilon(0). The Swift equation that essentially incorporate such a correction term for strain and describes well, the stress strain curve and the work hardening in a type 316 stainless steel. (c) 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.