Corrosion in water supply pipe stainless steel 304 and a supply line of helium in stainless steel 316

A corrosion spreading throughout the 304 stainless steel tubing of a water system to supply various buildings was observed, and also leaks were detected in welding zones. The same place is also crossed by a gas distribution network, with a helium pipe 316 of stainless steel that required periodic repairs more or less every two years, due to the presence of leaks. The tests showed that both types of stainless steel have suffered localized corrosion induced by hypochlorite ion, in a mechanism of dry/wet, and that the welding procedure performed on the 304 stainless steel is unacceptable. Some immediate procedures were undertaken to keep systems running, but recommendations were given for a final resolution of the problems.     

Effect of grain refinement on the hydrogen embrittlement of 304 austenitic stainless steel

The effect of grain size (in the range from 4 μm to 12 μm) on the hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of 304 austenitic stainless steel (ASS) was studied. HE susceptibility result shows that HE resistance increases with grain refinement. Electron backscattered diffraction kernel average misorientation (EBSD-KAM) mapping shows that the strain localization can be mitigated by grain refinement. Hence, strain localization sites which act as highways for hydrogen diffusion and preferred crack initiation sites can be reduced along with grain refinement, leading to a high HE resistance. Meanwhile, grain size shows no influence on the strain induced martensite (SIM) transformation during the hydrogen charging slow strain tensile test (SSRT). Hence, the SIM formed during hydrogen charging SSRT is not responsible for the different HE resistance of 304 ASSs with various grain sizes. Hydrogen diffusion is supposed to be controlled by a competition between short-circuit diffusion along random grain boundary (RGB) and hydrogen trapping at dislocations, leading to a maximum hydrogen diffusion coefficient in the 304 ASS with an average grain size of 8 μm.     

Predicting recrystallized grain size in friction stir processed 304L stainless steel

A major dilemma faced in the nuclear industry is repair of stainless steel reactor components that have been exposed to neutron irradiation. When conventional fusion welding is used for repair, intergranular cracks develop in the heat-affected zone(HAZ). Friction stir processing(FSP), which operates at much lower peak temperatures than fusion welding, was studied as a crack repair method for irradiated 304 L stainless steel. A numerical simulation of the FSP process in 304 L was developed to predict temperatures and recrystallized grain size in the stir zone. The model employed an Eulerian finite element approach,where flow stresses for a large range of strain rates and temperatures inherent in FSP were used as input. Temperature predictions in three locations near the stir zone were accurate to within 4%, while prediction of welding power was accurate to within 5% of experimental measurements. The predicted recrystallized grain sizes ranged from 7.6 to 10.6 μm, while the experimentally measured grains sizes in the same locations ranged from 6.0 to 7.6 μm. The maximum error in predicted recrystallized grain size was about 39%, but the associated stir zone hardness from the predicted grain sizes was only different from the experiment by about 10%.     

On the variation of grain size and fractal dimension in an austenitic stainless steel

Samples of an AISI type 316L stainless steel were subjected to different treatments to promote changes in their microstructure. The specimens were heated in a box furnace set at four different temperatures for 30 min and cooled in air to room temperature by placing them in water after the cycle was completed. The samples were prepared following standard metallographic procedures, the microstructure was revealed with an electrolytic etchant, and the average grain size in each sample was determined by the mean line intercept technique. Images from the microstructures were digitized and fed into a personal computer for their fractal analysis by box counting. Two different approaches were used to obtain the fractal dimension of the structure, yielding to similar values in both cases. It was found that the fractal dimension of the microstructure increased with the reduction in grain size.     

A study on the mechanism of serrated grain boundary formation in an austenitic stainless steel

Measurement of the activation energy for the formation of serrated grain boundaries (GB) has been carried out to understand its underlying formation mechanism in an AISI 316 stainless steel. The apparent incubation time necessary to initiate grain boundary serration was obtained at different aging temperatures, and the apparent activation energy for serration was carefully calculated from the Arrhenius relationship between incubation time and aging temperature. The activation energy for GB serrations in this alloy was measured to be approximately 148 ± 20 kJ mole⁻¹, which is consistent with the activation energy for lattice diffusion of carbon in γ-iron (142 kJ mole⁻¹). This result indicates that GB serration could be controlled essentially by the lattice diffusion of carbon to grain boundaries. Based on the through-thickness observation of serrated GBs, a straight boundary began to serrate from the surface at an early stage of the aging treatment, and then the serrated parts propagated throughout the entire grain boundary.     

Morphologies and characteristics of deformation induced martensite during tensile deformation of 304 LN stainless steel

The austenite γ (fcc) matrix of 304 LN stainless steel transforms readily to martensites (hcp) and ′ (bcc) on deformation. The formation and nucleation mechanism of deformation induced martensite (DIM) during tensile deformation of 304 LN stainless steel has been studied at various strain rates in room temperature. It is investigated that the enhancement of strain rates during tensile deformation promotes the early formation of DIM, while suppressing its saturation value at fracture. Extensive transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies showed more than one nucleation site for martensite transformation and the transformation mechanisms were observed to be γ (fcc) →  (hcp), γ (fcc) → ′ (bcc) and γ (fcc) →  (hcp) → ′ (bcc).     

Hot tensile deformation behaviors and constitutive model of 42CrMo steel

The hot tensile deformation behaviors of 42CrMo steel are studied by uniaxial tensile tests with the temperature range of 850–1100 °C and strain rate range of 0.1–0.0001 s⁻¹. The effects of hot forming process parameters (strain rate and deformation temperature) on the elongation to fracture, strain rate sensitivity and fracture characteristics are analyzed. The constitutive equation is established to predict the peak stress under elevated temperatures. It is found that the flow stress firstly increases to a peak value and then decreases, showing a dynamic flow softening. This is mainly attributed to the dynamic recrystallization and material damage during the hot tensile deformation. The deformation temperature corresponding to the maximum elongation to fracture increases with the increase of strain rate within the studied strain rate range. Under the strain rate range of 0.1–0.001 s⁻¹, the localized necking causes the final fracture of specimens. While when the strain rate is 0.0001 s⁻¹, the gage segment of specimens maintains the uniform macroscopic deformation. The damage degree induced by cavities becomes more and more serious with the increase of the deformation temperature. Additionally, the peak stresses predicted by the proposed model well agree with the measured results.     

Twins and twin-related domains in a grain boundary-engineered 304 stainless steel

ABSTRACT

The grain boundary (GB) network of a GB-engineered 304 stainless steel was investigated in three dimensions. The GB-engineered sample had a high proportion of twin-related boundaries (～70%). However, these boundaries were not distributed uniformly, but rather in large-sized twin-related domains (TRDs). All grains within a TRD can be connected by a tree-shaped twin-chain. Any two grains within a TRD have ∑3ⁿ-type misorientation, where the n-value could be determined according to the twin-chain. These results show that the formation of large-sized TRDs is correlated with extensively progressed multiple-twinning processes. A quadruple-junction has three twin-boundaries at most. Furthermore, all observed quadruple-junctions within TRDs have at least one twin-boundary. The common spatial morphologies of twin-boundaries are plane-shape, tunnel-shape and semi-closed tunnel-shape.

This paper is part of a thematic issue on Nuclear Materials.     

Constitutive modeling for hot deformation behavior of T24 ferritic steel

Hot compression tests of T24 ferritic steel were carried out using Gleeble-3500 thermo mechanical simulator in the temperature range of 1323-1473 K with the strain rate of 0.01-10 s⁻¹ and the height reduction of 60%. The flow behavior of T24 ferritic steel was characterized based on analysis of the true stress-strain curves. Constitutive equations incorporating the effects of temperature, strain rate and strain have been developed to model the hot deformation behavior of T24 ferritic steel. Material constants α, n, ln A and activation energy Q in the constitutive equations were calculated as a function of strain. The flow stress values of T24 ferritic steel predicted by the proposed constitutive equations show a good agreement with experimental results, which indicated that the developed constitutive equations could give an accurate and precise prediction for the flow stress of T24 ferritic steel.     

拉伸变形对304不锈钢应力腐蚀的影响

研究了在-70℃和180℃拉伸变形对304不锈钢应力腐蚀的影响，结果表明，随着拉伸变形量的增加，180℃拉伸变形的304不锈钢在42％沸腾MgCl2溶液中应力腐蚀破裂敏感性逐渐减小，而在-70℃拉伸变形的304不锈钢在42％沸腾MgCl2溶液中应力腐蚀破裂敏感性经历了一个从减小到增大的过程．马氏体相的存在导致304不锈钢在42％沸腾MgCl2溶液中应力腐蚀破裂敏感性增大。     

Fabrication of nanostructure in inner-surface of AISI 304 stainless steel pipe with surface plastic deformation

In the present investigation, a pipe inner-surface grinding (PISG) technique was developed to fabricate nanostructure in the inner-surface of an austenitic 304 stainless steel pipe. PISG was performed by high speed shearing with hard sphere tips, leading to gradient distribution of strain, strain rate and strain gradient along depth. Nano-austenite with an average boundary spacing of 20?nm was generated, followed by deformation microstructure characterized by shear bands, multi- and uni-directional twins and planar dislocation arrays. Deformation induced grain refinement of austenitic 304 stainless steel with low stacking fault energy (SFE) covering 4–5 order’s magnitude of length scales toward nanometer regime was unified.     

304不锈钢激光原位合成自润滑涂层的宽温域摩擦学性能

由于304不锈钢在中、高温下摩擦学性能较差,制约了其在重要摩擦运动副零部件上的应用。为改善304不锈钢的摩擦学性能,以Ni60粉末为增韧相,WS2为合成润滑相的前驱化合物,TiC为高硬度耐磨相,采用高能激光束在其表面原位合成自润滑耐磨复合涂层。利用X射线衍射仪、扫描电子显微镜、显微硬度计、摩擦磨损试验机和探针式材料表面磨痕测量仪表征涂层和基体的物相、微观结构、显微硬度与表面形貌,并系统研究涂层和基体在20,300,600,800℃下的摩擦学性能及其磨损机理。结果表明:涂层主要由Cr0.19Fe0.7Ni0.11,Ti2SC,Fe2C,Cr7C3,CrS和WS2组成;涂层的平均显微硬度(302.0HV0.5)略高于基体(257.2HV0.5),但涂层上部区域的硬度(425.4HV0.5)约为基体的1.65倍;涂层在所有等温摩擦学实验中摩擦因数和磨损率均低于基体,300℃时涂层润滑效果最好,摩擦因数为0.3031,600℃时涂层耐磨效果最好,磨损率为9.699×10^-5 mm^3·N^-1·m^-1。     

Characterization of transition joints of commercially pure titanium to 304 stainless steel

Solid-state direct bonding between commercially pure titanium and type 304 austenitic stainless steel has been carried out in the temperature range of 850–950 °C, under a uniaxial pressure of 3 MPa for 1 h. The diffusion bonds have been evaluated using light microscopy, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and tensile testing. Light microscopy shows that different intermediate layers are formed in the reaction zone, and the width of these layers increases with an increase in bonding temperature. EPMA revealed that, at any particular bonding temperature, Ti traverses a minimum distance in the 304 stainless steel side, whereas Fe, Cr and Ni travel comparatively larger distances in the Ti side. This microanalysis also indicated different step formations in the concentration profile of Ti, Fe and Cr over different composition ranges in the diffusion zone indicating formation of intermetallic phases that were detected by XRD. Brittle intermetallic phases lower the strength and ductility of the diffusion bonded couples significantly. Best room temperature tensile strength, 217 MPa, has been obtained at 850 °C processing temperature due to minimal deleterious effects.     

Microstructure, chemistry and coating properties of ion-plated TiN on type 304 stainless steel

Characterization of TiN coatings on type 304 stainless steel was carried out using a Zeiss EM 902A energy filtering transmission electron microscope equipped with an electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) detector. TiN thin films were produced by a hollow cathode discharge ion plating coater. It was found by plan-view transmission electron microscopy that the microstructure of the TiN coatings is thickness dependent. The grain size of TiN ranges from 88 nm at the coating surface down to 9 nm near the TiN/steel interface. In addition, the TiN surface layer shows some degree of texture, but the subsurface and internal TiN layers are mainly equiaxial and randomly oriented. Chemical analysis by EELS shows that the relative oxygen content increases linearly from the TiN surface to the TiN/steel interface, whereas the relative nitrogen content first decreases slowly and then drops rapidly near the interface. The presence of a Ti₂N phase and the deficiency of nitrogen near the TiN/steel interface suggest that the early-deposited TiN is nonstoichiometric. By the periodic cracking method, the ultimate shear stress at the TiN/steel interface and the residual stress in the TiN thin film were estimated to be 2.2 GPa and 12.8 GPa, respectively.     

Prediction of hot deformation behaviour of Fe-25Mn-3Si-3Al TWIP steel

Hot deformation behaviour of Fe-25Mn-3Si-3Al twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel was investigated by hot compression testing on Gleeble 3500 thermo-mechanical simulator in the temperature range from 800 to 1100 °C and at strain rate range from 0.01 to 5 s⁻¹, and the microstructural evolution was studied by metallographic observations. The results show that the true stress-true strain curves exhibit a single peak stress at certain strain, after which the flow stresses decrease monotonically until the end of deformation, showing a dynamic flow softening. The peak stress level decreases with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate, which can be predicted by the Zener-Hollomon (Z) parameter in the hyperbolic sine equation with the hot deformation activation energy Q of 405.95 kJ/mol. The peak and critical strains can also be predicted by Z parameter in power-law equations, and the ratio of critical strain to peak strain is about 0.7. The dynamic recrystallization (DRX) is the most important softening mechanism for the experimental steel during hot compression. Furthermore, DRX procedure is strongly affected by Z parameter, and the decreasing of Z value leads to more extensive DRX.     

The thermal conductivity of AISI 304L stainless steel

A compilation and critical analysis of the thermal conductivity () of AISI 304 stainless steel (SS) between 100 and 1707 K has been given in the literature. The author represented his recommended values of by an inflection in the A versus temperature relationship between 300 and 500 K. Because a physical mechanism had not been identified that would produce such a temperature dependence in of 304 SS, interest was generated in the possible existence of an as yet undiscovered phenomenon that might cause such an inflection. Consequently, experimental verification of the inflection was sought. The present paper presents recent measurements of , the electrical resistivity, and the absolute Seebeck coefficient of 304L SS from 300 to 1000 K and of the thermal diffusivity () from 297 to 423 K. The values computed from the a measurements were within ± 1.6% of the directly measured An inflection was not observed in the temperature dependence of between 300 and 500 K. After careful evaluation and because a physical mechanism still has not been identified which would produce such an inflection, the authors conclude that the inflection in the vs T relationship reported in the literature was caused by the data analysis technique.     

Super304H奥氏体耐热钢微观组织研究

为了深入认识新型奥氏体耐热钢Super304H(0.1C-18Cr-9Ni-3Cu-Nb,N)的微观组织,利用光学显微镜、扫描电子显微镜、电子探针和X射线衍射等手段,研究了Super304H钢合金元素的分布和析出相的组成及分布形态.试验结果表明,Super304H钢在供货状态下的显微组织由γ-基体和析出相组成.与传统的18-8不锈钢相比,这种奥氏体钢晶粒均匀细小,晶粒尺寸约46μm.析出相主要由Nb(C,N)和富铜相组成,Nb(C,N)有呈方向性分布的条块状和呈弥散分布的细小颗粒状两种形态,条块状的Nb(C,N)是软化过程中残留下来的,而弥散分布的是固溶处理及冷却过程中析出形成的.其中弥散分布的Nb(C,N)与富铜相对细化晶粒和改善钢的高温强度起重要作用,而多种复合强化机制使得Super304H钢具有优异的高温性能.