Effect of Co on the microstructure evolution of modified HR3C austenitic heat-resistant steels during long-term ageing

The modified HR3C austenitic heat-resistant steels were aged at 650°C and 700°C for up to 3000 h. The effect of Co on microstructure evolution during long-term ageing was investigated using scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. The experimental results showed that a large amount of σ phase precipitated within the grain during long-term ageing. The growth and coarsening of the σ phase were greatly influenced by the temperature. The variation of micro-hardness can be well understood in terms of volume fraction of the σ phase. The activation energy of forming σ phase was calculated by the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami equation and Arrhenius equation. It was found that Co addition can suppress the precipitation of the σ phase. The related mechanism of Co effect is discussed.     

Precipitation evolution and creep strength modelling of 25Cr20NiNbN austenitic steel

25Cr-20Ni-Nb-N is a high strength and oxidation-resistant austenitic stainless steel intended for Ultra-Supercritical (USC) power plants. In this work, the precipitation evolution, and creep strength at 650 and 750°C for up to 100?000?h are predicted. Six precipitates are considered in the thermokinetic calculation by MatCalc: M₂₃C₆, η (Cr₃Ni₂SiN), σ, G, Z, Nb(C,N). For the creep strength prediction, three hardening mechanisms are taken into account: dislocation, precipitation, and solid solution hardening. Both matrix composition and precipitation evolution, calculated with MatCalc, are used for modelling the precipitation and solid solution hardening. It is found that the dislocation hardening, followed by precipitation hardening gives the largest contribution to the creep strength. The most important precipitates strengthening phases are found to be Z-Phase and Nb(C,N), which are nucleated at the dislocations. The model for the creep rate can represent how the creep exponent is raised with increasing applied stress and reduced temperature.     

The multiaxial creep ductility of austenitic stainless steels

Calculations of creep damage under conditions of strain control are often carried out using either a time fraction approach or a ductility exhaustion approach. In practice, calculations of creep damage are further complicated by the presence of multiaxial states of stress. In the case of the time fraction approach, there are a number of models that can be used to predict the effect of state of stress on creep rupture strength. In particular, Huddleston developed a model from data on stainless steels. The R5 procedure uses a ductility exhaustion approach to calculate creep damage and includes a model for use under triaxial states of stress. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of this model, which is based on considerations of cavity nucleation and growth and was developed from multiaxial creep data on Type 304 and 316 steels.     

On the microstructural origin of premature failure of creep strength enhanced martensitic steels

The creep strength enhanced martensitic steels are key material for the main power generating units in ultra-supercritical plants.Studies on the evaluation of their creep rupture life show there is an over-estimation of rupture life after long-term creep,which is known as premature failure.However,the microstructural origin of the premature failure remains unclear.Here in this study,we have carefully investigated the microstructural transformations and their influences on creep rupture behavior,showing that the evolution of martensite and M23C6 carbides as well as Laves phase are responsible for the pre-mature failure.By using multi-step TTP-LMP method,we confirmed a three-stage creep rupture behavior under different stress regions.Further quantitative analysis showed that the coarsening of M23C6 carbides and recovery of martensite exert equal and dominant effects on the premature failure in the medium stress region,while precipitation and coarsening of Laves phase are responsible for the premature failure in the low stress region.     

Simulating the implications of oxide scale formations in austenitic steels of ultra-supercritical fossil power plants

Formation of steam-side oxide scale that can cause major failures in boilers is a large concern in fossil-fueled power plant operation. In this work, we attempt to simulate the implications of oxide scale formation and subsequently assumed exfoliation in the given length of an austenitic tube of ultra-supercritical (USC) fossil power plants under different presumed service conditions. The incremental procedures used to determine the average metal temperature and scale thickness over a period of time in superheater/reheater tubes at a specified steam temperature are presented. A number of simulation results for both formation and subsequent exfoliation of the oxide scales are presented and discussed. Based on the simulation results, the estimated scale growth and presumed exfoliation rate in austenitic steels at 650 °C seemed to be allowable. However, to run USC power plants with steam condition of around 650 °C, more detailed studies are required.     

Creep characterization of a type 316 austenitic steel

Creep data on a type 316 austeni tic steel are presented covering the temperature range 550-675°C and in volving test times up to 30 000 h. The data have been used to inv estigate the efficiency of traditional and recent methods of presenting creep data , the formulation of creep constit utive equations, and the valid ity of certain parametric relationships designed to aid extrapolation. Th e article introduces a form of the steel which will subsequently appear in a study of multi-axial stress/creep relationships and the development of a design method for creep conditions.     

Creep ductility considerations for high energy components manufactured from creep strength enhanced steels

Abstract

It is well established that the tendency for low ductility ‘creep brittle’ fracture behaviour in tempered martensitic steels is linked to the formation and growth of micro voids or ‘cavities’. Details of the contributions of all factors affecting damage development are still under investigation. However, it is known that for tempered martensitic steels voids often initiate over most of the creep life. Nucleation has been recorded on both prior austenite grain boundaries and at other micro structural features such as lath boundaries. The number of voids formed, and the fracture behaviour observed, depend on the type of creep strength enhanced ferritic (CSEF) steel and specific details of fabrication and heat treatment. In Grade 91 steel, void nucleation is sensitive to metallurgical factors such as composition and steel making practices. Key indicators of susceptibility to creep cavitation also include the levels of trace elements present and the presence of hard non-metallic inclusions. In Grade 92 steel, creep void formation has been linked to boron nitrides and other inclusions. These inclusions are present when there has been insufficient control of composition and heat treatment. Metallurgical factors linked to whether a particle will nucleate a void include the nature of the inclusion/matrix interface, the shape and size and the location of the inclusions within the microstructure. This paper describes the results of critical uniaxial and multiaxial testing for CSEF steels and compares data from nominally the same steels which have different metallurgical susceptibilities to void formation.     

Predicting creep crack initiation in austenitic and ferritic steels using the creep toughness parameter and time-dependent failure assessment diagram

Methods for evaluating the creep toughness parameter,   K ^mat _c   , are reviewed and   K ^mat _c   data are determined for a ferritic P22 steel from creep crack growth tests on compact tension, C(T), specimens of homogenous parent material (PM) and heterogeneous specimen weldments at 565 °C and compared to similar tests on austenitic type 316H stainless steel at 550 °C. Appropriate relations describing the time dependency of   K ^mat _c   are determined accounting for data scatter. Considerable differences are observed in the form of the   K ^mat _c   data and the time-dependent failure assessment diagrams (TDFADs) for both the 316H and P22 steel. The TDFAD for P22 shows a strong time dependency, but is insensitive to time for 316H. Creep crack initiation (CCI) time predictions are obtained using the TDFAD approach and compared to experimental results from C(T) specimens and feature components. The TDFAD based on parent material properties can be used to obtain conservative predictions of CCI on weldments. Conservative predictions are almost always obtained when lower bound   K ^mat _c   values are employed. Long-term test are generally more relevant to industrial component lifetimes. The different trends between long- and short-term CCI time and growth data indicate that additional long-term test are required to further validate the procedure to predict the lifetimes of high temperature components.     

Long-term creep strength predictions from short-term creep test data for high Cr creep-resistant steels and microstructural evolution origin of over-predictions

A new tensile creep model that integrates the tensile strength at creep temperature is investigated for its generic applicability in predicting the long-term creep strengths from short-term creep test data for high Cr creep-resistant steels using creep and tensile strength data measured for a grade of 11Cr steel. The results show that, when the long-term creep strengths are specified by stresses producing the required minimum creep rate, they can be accurately predicted using short-term creep test data. However, when they are specified by stresses giving the required creep rupture time, using only short-term creep test data will lead to over-predictions. The microstructure evolution origin of such over-predictions is traced to the Z-phase precipitation during creep in creep-resistant steels with more than 9 wt.% Cr. The conventional concept on the relationship between creep test stress and creep mechanisms is also re-evaluated in light of the new results.     

Microstructure characterization in the weld metals of HQ130 + QJ63 high strength steels

Microstructural characterization of the weld metals of HQ130 + QJ63 high strength steels, welded under 80% Ar + 20% CO₂ gas shielded metal arc welding and different weld heat inputs, was carried out by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The relative contents of acicular ferrite (AF) and pro-eutectic ferrites (PF) in the weld metals were evaluated by means of XQF-2000 micro-image analyser. The experimental results indicate that there is acicular ferrite in the grain and some pro-eutectic ferrite on the boundary of original austenite grains when the weld heat input is small (E = 9.6 kJ/cm), but the main microstructure is ferrite side plate (FSP) when the heat input is larger (E = 22.3 kJ/cm). So the weld heat input should be strictly controlled in the range 10 ∼ 20 kJ/cm and then the content of pro-eutectic ferrite is limited to < 25%. Thus weld metals of HQ130 + QJ63 high strength steels with high toughness and excellent resistance to cracking can be ensured.     

Estimating the remanent creep life of power plant components

This paper examines the current status of remanent creep life assessment methods for power plant components. Consideration is given mainly to predictive techniques based on post-service examination and testing with application to low alloy ferritic components in fossil plant. The requirements for producing methodologies, namely the development of mechanistic and parametric models for creep damage and failure, are discussed together with aspects on the measurement of the relevant creep damage feature or property. Techniques considered include physical and mechanical property measurement, metallographic examination, strain measurement, and accelerated creep and rupture testing. Methods based on accelerated testing are discussed in detail; extrapolative techniques and application of the life fraction rule are considered both from an experimental and mechanistic viewpoint. Finally, attention is given to the choice of representative stress to apply to uniaxial data. The influence of material parameters on the representative stress is emphasized and upper and lower bounds appropriate to creep brittle and creep ductile material states are considered.     

Correlation between microstructure and creep performance of martensitic/austenitic transition weldment in dependence of its post-weld heat treatment

This paper deals with the influence of post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) of T92/TP316H martensitic/austenitic transition weldment on the resulting microstructure and creep characteristics. Experimental weldments were fabricated by gas tungsten arc welding using a nickel-based weld metal (Ni WM). After the welding, two individual series of produced weldments were heat-treated according to two different PWHT procedures. The first “conventional PWHT” was carried out via subcritical tempering (i.e. bellow Ac₁ temperature of T92 steel), whereas the other one, the so-called “full PWHT” consisted of a complete reaustenitization of the weldments followed by water-quenching and final tempering. The use of “conventional PWHT” preserved microstructural gradient of T92 steel heat-affected zone (HAZ), consisting of its typical coarse-grained and fine-grained subregions with tempered martensitic and recrystallized ferritic–carbidic microstructures respectively. In contrast, the “full PWHT” led to the complete elimination of the original HAZ via transformation processes involved, i.e. the reaustenitization and back on-cooling martensite formation. The observed microstructural changes depending on the initial PWHT conditions were further manifested by corresponding differences in the weldments’ creep performance and their failure mode. The weldments in “conventional PWHT” state ruptured after long-term creep tests by premature “type IV failure” within their recrystallized intercritical HAZs. On the contrary, the long-term creep behavior of the weldments processed by “full PWHT” was characterized by their remarkable creep life extension but also by the occurrence of unfavorable “decohesion failure” along T92/Ni WM interface.     

Effect of stress dependent creep ductility on creep crack growth behaviour of steels for wide range of C*

Abstract

In this work, the effect of stress dependent creep ductility on the creep crack growth (CCG) behaviour of steels has been investigated by finite element simulations based on ductility exhaustion damage model. The relationship between the transition region of creep ductility and the transition behaviour of CCG rate on da/dt-C* curves has been examined and the CCG life assessments of components and CCG resistance of materials for a wide range of C* were discussed. The results show that with increasing the transition region size of creep ductility, the transition C* region size on da/dt-C* curves increases. With moving transition region position of creep ductility to high stress region (increasing transition stress levels), the transition C* region on the da/dt-C* curves also moves to high C* region. Decreasing transition stress levels and transition region sizes of creep ductility and increasing the lower shelf and upper shelf creep ductility values can improve the CCG resistance of materials. If the extrapolation CCG rate data from the high C* region or from the transition C* region are used in life assessments of the components at low C* region, the non-conservative or excessive conservative results may be produced. Therefore, the CCG rate data should be obtained for a wide range of C* by long term laboratory tests or numerical predictions using the stress dependent creep ductility and model.     

Twinning activity in high-manganese austenitic steels under high velocity loading

Deformation temperature and manganese content dependencies of twinning activity in two types of high Mn austenitic steels were investigated upon high velocity tensile loading. It was observed that nanotwin formation within previously formed twins dominates at subzero temperatures and significantly contributes to work hardening.     

Study on hot deformation behaviour of 316LN austenitic stainless steel based on hot processing map

Abstract

316LN is a type of austenitic stainless steel whose grain refinement only depends on hot deformation. The true stress–strain curves of 316LN were obtained by means of hot compression experiments conducted at a temperature range of 900–1200°C and at a strain rate range of 0·001–10 s^?1. The influence of deformation parameters on the microstructure of 316LN was analysed. Both the constitutive equation for 316LN and the model of grain size after dynamic recrystallisation were established, and the effect of different deformation conditions on the microstructure was analysed. The results show that the suitable working region is the one with a relatively higher deformation temperature and a lower strain rate, in which the dynamic recrystallisation is finely conducted. Moreover, the working region that should be avoided during hot deformation was indicated.     

On the stress corrosion cracking mechanisms of austenitic stainless steels

In this paper, experimental results on stress corrosion cracking in austenitic stainless steels are described. Crack growth data in sodium chloride solution for AISI 304 steel obtained for different metallurgical conditions, acoustic emission data recorded during crack growth and fractographic observations have been discussed with a view to identifying the operating mechanism. Some of the experimental observations such as crack propagation occurring in discontinuous jumps of the order of a few microns, lowering of the threshold stress intensity andJ-integral values on sensitization and cold working, typical transgranular fractographic features, transition in mode of fracture from transgranular to intergranular in sensitized conditions and activation energies of the order of 50 to 65 kJ/mol can all be accounted by hydrogen embrittlement mechanism. Hydrogen generated at the crack tip by corrosion reaction diffuses ahead of the crack tip under hydrostatic stress and influences the deformation process at the crack tip and also leads to the brittle component of the crack advance in jumps.     

The creep and fracture behaviour of tempered martensitic steels

Creep strength enhanced ferritic steels contain 9 to 12% Cr and were developed to exhibit excellent high temperature properties. These should be achieved when the microstructure exhibits a tempered martensitic matrix containing a substructure with a high dislocation density and a uniform dispersion of fine, second phase precipitates. It is interesting to note that when properly processed the typical alloy compositions for these steels provide reasonable strength but can exhibit brittle creep behaviour. The levels of ductility required in engineering applications necessitate proper control of composition (including trace elements), steel making and processing and all heat treatments. The properties needed for modern design methods can only be obtained using validated procedures for both uniaxial and multiaxial testing and documentation to establish the mechanisms controlling deformation and fracture for relevant stress states.     

Effect of TiC and NbC carbides on creep life of stainless steels

The effect of TiC and NbC carbides on creep life has been investigated for 321HTB and 347HTB steels at 600–750°C for about 20–200,000 h. The creep data for 304HTB steel are used as reference data. The precipitation hardening is larger for the 321HTB than for the 347HTB at short times during creep. Then the reduction of precipitation hardening due to coarsening of TiC and NbC carbides takes place for up to long times, which is less significant in the 321HTB than in the 347HTB. The smaller coarsening rate of the TiC carbides than the NbC carbides during creep is discussed on the base of a rate equation for diffusion-controlled Ostwald ripening.     

Grain-boundary diffusion and precipitate trapping of hydrogen in ultrafine-grained austenitic stainless steels processed by high-pressure torsion

This study was conducted to clarify the effects of grain boundaries and precipitates on room-temperature hydrogen transport in two types of austenitic stainless steels with ultrafine-grained structures produced by high-pressure torsion (HPT) and subsequent annealing. The grains in the Fe-25Ni-15Cr (in mass%) alloy containing Ti and the Fe-25Cr-20Ni alloy were refined by the HPT-processing to ∼150 and ∼85 nm, respectively. The high-temperature annealing after the HPT processing led to the precipitation of η-Ni₃Ti for the former and σ-FeCr for the latter. In the HPT-processed specimens, hydrogen diffusivity was enhanced through short-circuit diffusion because of the increased population of grain boundaries in comparison with the increased opportunity of hydrogen trapping on dislocations. As for the post-HPT-annealed specimens having the precipitates, the hydrogen diffusion was hindered by the hydrogen trapping on η-Ni₃Ti precipitates, but was not affected by σ-FeCr precipitation. This depends on the affinity between hydrogen and constituting elements.     

Microstructure and creep behaviour of pressure boundary welds from Grade 91 steel tee

Abstract

New power generation equipment firing either coal or natural gas is required to operate at high levels of efficiency with greater operational flexibility than has been true for such equipment in the past. Because of their unique combination of superior creep strength and favourable thermal–physical properties, Grade 91 and the other creep strength enhanced ferritic (CSEF) steels are materials of choice for components operating in the elevated temperature sections of this equipment. To fully realise the benefits of these alloys, it is essential that careful control be maintained during all phases of processing of the material, from design, through material production, to fabrication and installation. Absent such control, rates of damage accumulation can be much greater than expected from ‘Code’ minimum data. Problems have been associated with incorrect heat treatment: failure to develop the necessary structure during the normalising heat treatment or breakdown of that structure during subsequent sub-critical heat treatments. Heat treating schedules must consider not only the specific chemical composition of the base and weld filler metal, but also the cumulative impact of multiple heat treatments on the final material structure and its properties. The present work has examined the performance of welds in an ex-service component. The results suggest that, even when less than optimal heat treatment is carried out, the susceptibility for Type IV cracking in weld heat affected zones may be the life limiting factor for most CSEF steel components.