Developing an austenitic stainless steel for improved performance in advanced fossil power facilities

Designed for application in the demanding environments of power-generating systems, new steels with outstanding high-temperature creep rupture resistance have been developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Stemming from years of research on precipitation in aged and reactor-irradiated steels, the precipitate microstructure in Fe-Cr-Ni steels was effectively tailored through carefully controlled additions of minor alloying elements and with the assistance of analytical electron microscopy.