Development of Modified 304 Stainless Steel Resistant to Stress Corrosion Cracking in Chloride Environment

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Development of Modified 304 Stainless Steel Resistant to Stress Corrosion Cracking in Chloride Environment

This was a feasibility study for a modified 304 steel resistant to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in aqueous environment containing chloride. SCC tests were conducted potentiostaticaly with spot-welded specimens, which had both crevice and residual stress, mainly in 3 % NaCl solution at various temperatures to determine the critical temperature for SCC at and below which the steel would not suffer from SCC. The effects of individual alloying element of silicon, manganese and copper on SCC of 18Cr-14Ni steels which phosphor content is 0.002 % and molybdenum content is 0.01 % were examined. Addition of 1 or 2 % of copper has beneficial effect on resistance to SCC, while increasing silicon or manganese content has no significant effect. Critical temperature of the steel with 0.002 % of phosphor and 2 % of copper is 150 ℃, which is markedly higher than 50 ℃ of 304L steel. However, the beneficial effect of copper is reduced with increasing phosphor content. From practical viewpoint, the modified steel with good SCC resistance should have 0.01 %-0.015 % of phosphor and 0.3 % or more of molybdenum, because it is very difficult to reduce phosphor content below 0.008 % industrially and such molybdenum content is inevitably introduced through cost-saving melting process using return steel. Aluminium is to be added as another alloying element and 3 % of aluminium combined with 2 % of copper has been found to negate the deleterious effects of increased phosphor and molybdenum content. As a candidate steel at this stage, 14Cr-16Ni-0.013P-2Cu-1Al-(0.3-1)Mo steel has critical temperature of 110 ℃.