Effect of silicon on ductility of T91 steel in liquid lead-bismuth eutectic environment

The tensile tests of T91 and T91Si steels at 200-450℃in air and at 350℃in oxygen-depleted liquid lead-bismuth eutectic(LBE)environment with strain rate of 1×10^(-5)-5×10^(-3)were performed.Results show that the activation energy of T91 steel is 103.45-246.76 kJ/mol and that of T91Si steel is 146.98-172.11 kJ/mol when Portevin-Le Chatelie(PLC)phenomenon occurs.The elongation reduction of T91 steel at 350℃is not specific to LBE environment,whereas the presence of LBE promotes crack initiation and propagation and affects the elongation of the material in the necking stage.With Si addition,the elongation,especially the uniform elongation at 350℃in LBE environment,improves,and the tendency toward crack propagation in T91 steel after slow tensile necking is reduced.The PLC phenomenon can be seen in both T91 and T91Si steels at high temperatures owing to the dynamic strain aging(DSA).The temperature ranges are different when DSA occurs,with 300-350℃and 250-350℃for T91 and T91Si steels,respectively.

Hot Deformation Behavior of SA508GR.4N Steel for Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessels

A hot compression experiment （1073 1473 K, strain rates of 0. 001-10 s -1 ） of SAS08GR. 4N low alloy steel was performed using a Gleeble-3800 thermal-mechanical simulator, and the hot deformation behavior of the steel was investigated by analyzing both the true stress true strain curves and its microstructures. The thermal de formation equation and hot deformation activation energy （Q） of SA508GR. 4N steel were obtained by regression with a classic hyperbolic sine function. The hot processing map of SAS08GR. 4N steel was also established. An empirical equation for the stress peak was described for practical applications. The SA508GR. 4N steel showed a critical Zener-Hollomon parameter （lnZc） for dynamic recrystallization （DRX） of 37.44, below which full DRX may occur. The sensitivity of the SA508GR. 4N steel increased linearly with test temperature, such that higher temperatures led to enhanced workability.

Constitutive modeling and critical strain of dynamic recrystallization in SA508Gr.4N steel for advanced pressure vessel materials

Using a Gleeble-1500D thermal-mechanical simulator,the hot-deformation behavior and critical strain in the dynamic recrystallization of SA508Gr.4N steel were investigated by compression tests from 1050 to 1250℃ with strain rates from 0.001 to 0.1 s^-1.Stress-strain curves were fitted by a nonlinear fitting method.Based on these tests,the flow stress constitutive equations of the work-hardening dynamical recovery period and dynamical recrystallization period Were established for SA508Gr.4N steel.The stress-strain curves of SA508Gr.4N steel predicted by the established models are in a good agreement with the experimental ones.Curves of ln θ -ε and --(a)(lnθ)/(a)ε-ε (where θ is the work-hardening rate and ε is true strain)were plotted from experimental data.A critical strain (εc)and a peak strain (εp)of dynamic recrystallization were obtained and exhibited a linear relationship,i.e.,εc =0.386εp.The predicted model of εc could be described by the equation of εc=1.604×10^-3Z^0.127.

Effect of Mn content on microstructure, tensile and impact properties of SA508Gr.4N steel for reactor pressure vessel

The effect of manganese(Mn)on the microstructure,tensile and impact properties of SA508Gr.4N steel has been experimentally investigated.The influence of Mn content on the substructure of SA508Gr.4N steel was investigated using the scanning electron microscope,electron back-scattered diffractometer and transmission electron microscope.It was found that the increased Mn content had a beneficial effect on both strength and toughness.Examination of microstructure revealed smaller size of block and larger number of high-angle grain boundaries with higher Mn content.The change of the ultimate tensile strength and toughness with increasing Mn content was attributed to the increased hardenability,the number of high-angle grain boundaries and the crack propagation path by the block refining.

Metadynamic recrystallization behaviors of SA508Gr.4N reactor pressure vessel steel during hot compressive deformation

The metadynamic recrystallization(MDRX)model is established,and the coefficients determined by multiple linear regression analysis are used to describe the microstructure evolution of SA508Gr.4N steel.The effects of compression temperature of 950–1150℃,strain rate of 0.001–0.1 s^(-1),pre-strain of 0.3–0.6,initial austenite grain size(IAGS)of 136–552 lm,and interval time of 1–300 s on the MDRX kinetics and microstructure evolution were analyzed,using twopass compression test method on Gleeble thermo-mechanical simulator.The results show that MDRX kinetics and austenite grain size are strongly dependent on compression temperature and strain rate,MDRX volume fraction increases with increasing compression temperature and strain rate,and the grain size decreases with increasing strain rate and decreasing compression temperature,while less affected by the pre-strain and IAGS.Meanwhile,the values predicted using MDRX model and the ones calculated from experiment are compared,and the results show that the proposed model can give a reasonable estimate of MDRX behavior for SA508Gr.4N steel.

Static recrystallization behavior of SA508Gr.4N reactor pressure vessel steel during hot compressive deformation

The two-pass isothermal hot compression method was used to study the effect of different thermal deformation conditions on static recrystallization behavior in Ni-Cr-Mo series SA508Gr.4N low alloy steel with interval holding time ranging from 1 to 300 s,temperature ranging from 950 to 1150℃,strain rate ranging from 0.01 to 1 s^(-1),true strains ranging from 0.1 to 0.2,and initial austenite grain size ranging from 175 to 552μm.It can be concluded that the static recrystallization volume fraction gradually increases with the increase in the deformation temperature,strain rate,strain and pass interval,and the decrease in the initial grain size,which is mainly due to the increase in the deformation energy storage and dislocations.Moreover,strain-induced grain boundary migration is the nucleation mechanism for static recrystallization of SA508Gr.4N low alloy steel.Based on the stress-strain curve,the predicted value obtained from the established static recrystallization kinetics model is in good consistence with the experimental value,and the static recrystallization thermal activation energy of SA508Gr.4N steel was calculated as 264,225.99 J/mol.

Microstructure and impact toughness of 16MND5 reactor pressure vessel steel manufactured by electrical additive manufacturing

Electrical additive manufacturing can improve manufacturing efficiency and reduce the cost of 16MND5 reactor pres-sure vessel steel. Impact tests were conducted to compare the impact toughness of 16MND5 steels manufactured by the electrical additive manufacturing and conventional forging, respectively. It is found that the impact toughness of electrical additive manufacturing specimen was slightly higher than that of conventional forging specimen. The characterizations of microstructure show that there were large ferrites and carbides in electrical additive manufacturing specimen. The fracture mechanisms of electrical additive manufacturing specimen were that microvoids or microcracks were prone to nucleate at the large ferrite/bainite interface and large carbide/bainitic ferrite interface, where the stress concentration was high. In addi-tion, the block size and high-angle grain boundaries played a vital role in hindering crack propagation of electrical additive manufacturing specimen, helping to improve the impact energy and leading to a low ductile–brittle transition temperature. The results suggest that the electrical additive manufacturing technology was an effective method to enhance the impact toughness of 16MND5 steel.