Grain boundary engineering for enhancing intergranular damage resistance of ferritic/martensitic steel P92

Ferritic/martensitic(F/M)steel is widely used as a structural material in thermal and nuclear power plants.However,it is susceptible to intergranular damage,which is a critical issue,under service conditions.In this study,to improve the resistance to intergranular damage of F/M steel,a thermomechanical process(TMP)was employed to achieve a grain boundary engineering(GBE)microstructure in F/M steel P92.The TMP,including cold-rolling thickness reduction of 6%,9%,and 12%,followed by austenitization at 1323 K for 40 min and tempering at 1053 K for 45 min,was applied to the as-received(AR)P92 steel.The prior austenite grain(PAG)size,prior austenite grain boundary character distribution(GBCD),and connectivity of prior austenite grain boundaries(PAGBs)were investigated.Compared to the AR specimen,the PAG size did not change significantly.The fraction of coincident site lattice boundaries(CSLBs,3≤Σ≤29)and Σ3^(n) boundaries along PAGBs decreased with increasing reduction ratio because the recrystallization fraction increased with increasing reduction ratio.The PAGB connectivity of the 6%deformed specimen slightly deteriorated compared with that of the AR specimen.Moreover,potentiodynamic polarization studies revealed that the intergranular damage resistance of the studied steel could be improved by increasing the fraction of CSLBs along the PAGBs,indicating that the TMP,which involves low deformation,could enhance the intergranular damage resistance.

Improving Intergranular Corrosion Resistance in Inconel 625 via Grain Boundary Character Distribution Optimization

The feasibility of applying the grain boundary character distribution(GBCD)optimization to Inconel 625 for improving the intergranular corrosion(IGC)resistance was studied.The GBCD was obtained and characterized by electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD)analysis,and its optimization was mainly attributed to annealing twins(Σ3)and twins related to boundaries formed during thermal-mechanical processing(TMP).Through TMP of 5%cold rolling and subsequent annealing at 1150℃for 5 min,the proportion of lowΣcoincidence site lattice(CSL)grain boundaries of the Inconel 625 can be enhanced to about 35.8%which mainly were ofΣ3^(n)(n=1,2,3)type.There is an increase of 24.8%compared with the solution-treated sample,and simultaneously the large-size highly-twinned grain-cluster microstructure is formed.The grain-cluster is mainly composed ofΣ3-Σ3-Σ9 orΣ3-Σ9-Σ27 triple junctions,which is mainly caused by boundary reactions during grain growth.Among them,the IGC resistance ofΣ3 grain boundaries,Σ9 grain boundaries and random grain boundaries is sequentially weakened.With the increase of the lowΣCSL grain boundary fraction,the IGC resistance of Inconel 625 improves.The essential reason is the amount ofΣ3 boundaries interrupting the random boundary network increases and the large grain-cluster arrests the penetration of IGC.

Effect of grain boundary characteristic distribution on brittle cracking of ferritic stainless steel

In order to better understand the relation between grain boundary characteristic distribution （GBCD） and the brittle cracking of ferritic stainless steel, the GBCD, impact test and bend test were investigated using scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and the electron backscatter diffraction （EBSD） technique. The results show that a crack occurs preferentially at high angle boundaries, and that low angle and low-∑ coincidence site lattice（CSL） boundaries can offer resistance to the propagation of cracks. It is suggested that an optimum GBCD, i.e. a high frequency of low angle or low-∑ CSL boundaries and discontinuous high angle boundaries network can offer the potential for decreasing the ductile-to-brittle transition temoerature （DBTT） of ferritic stainless steels.

Microtexture Evolution and Grain Boundary Character Distribution of Interstitial-Free Steels With Moderate Levels of Cold Rolling Reductions

High-strength interstitial-free steel sheets have very good deep drawability when processed to have { 111 } recrystallization texture. The microtexture evolution and grain boundary character distribution of interstitial-free steels as a function of moderate levels of cold rolling reductions were investigated by the metallographic microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction technique. The results showed that there was a close relationship between micro- texture and grain boundary character distribution for interstitial-free steel, especially the distribution and features of some specific types of coincident-site lattice boundaries. In addition, a-fiber texture was weakened to vanish while 7- fiber texture strengthened gradually as cold rolling reduction was increased from 20% to 75 % for cold rolled and an- nealed samples. Accordingly, increasing the rolling reduction from 20 % to 750% would lead to a significant increase in the proportion of ∑3 boundaries. Also, it was found that the microtexture of 20% cold rolled sample would induce a high frequency of ∑11 grain boundaries, but the microtexture of 75% cold rolled sample would produce more ∑7 and ∑17 grain boundaries. It was suggested that texture played a significant role in the formation of grain boundary character distribution.

Improving Intergranular Stress Corrosion Cracking Resistance in a Fe–18Cr–17Mn–2Mo–0.85N Austenitic Stainless Steel Through Grain Boundary Character Distribution Optimization

The grain boundary character distribution(GBCD) optimization and its effect on the intergranular stress corrosion cracking(IGSCC) resistance in a cold-rolled and subsequently annealed Fe-18 Cr-17 Mn-2 Mo-0.85 N high-nitrogen nickel-free austenitic stainless steel were systematically explored.The results show that stacking faults and planar slip bands appearing at the right amount of deformation(lower than 10%) are beneficial cold-rolled microstructures to the GBCD optimization.The proportion of special boundaries gradually increases in the subsequent stages of recrystallization and grain growth,accompanying with the growth of twin-related domain in the experimental steel.In this way,the fraction of low ∑ coincidence site lattice(CSL) boundaries can reach as high as 82.85% for the specimen cold-rolled by 5% and then annealed at 1423 K for 72 h.After GBCD optimization,low ∑ CSL boundaries and the special triple junctions(J2,J3) of high proportion can greatly hinder the nitride precipitation along grain boundaries and enhance the capability for intergranular crack arrest,thus improving the IGSCC resistance of the experimental steel.

Effects of cold rolling path on recrystallization behavior and mechanical properties of pure copper during annealing

The recrystallization behavior,grain boundary characteristic distribution,and mechanical properties of pure Cu sheets that were subjected to different cold rolling paths,and then annealed at 400°C for 10,30,60,and 420 min,were investigated.Different rolling paths changed the grain boundary orientations of cold-rolled copper,causing recrystallized grains to nucleate and grow in an oriented manner.However,the evolution of the texture indicated that cold-rolled copper with different rolling paths did not show an obvious preferred orientation after annealing.The RD-60 specimen exhibited the smallest grain size(6.6μm).The results indicated that the grain size and low-ΣCSL grain boundaries worked together to provide RD-60 samples with appropriate mechanical properties and high plasticity.The yield strength,ultimate tensile strength,and elongation of RD-60 sample were 81 MPa,230 MPa,and 49%,respectively.These results could provide guidance for tuning the microstructures and properties of pure Cu foils,as well as designing fabrication routes for pure Cu foils through processes such as rolling and drawing.