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.

Retarding the precipitation of η phase in Fe-Ni based alloy through grain boundary engineering

It is important to inhibit the precipitation of η phases in precipitation strengthened Fe-Ni based alloys,as they will deteriorate not only the mechanical property but also the hydrogen resistance.The present investigation shows that grain boundary engineering(GBE) can retard the formation and growth of ηphase in J75 alloy.After GBE treatment with 5% cold rolling followed by annealing at 1000℃ for 1 h,the fraction of special boundaries(SBs) increases from 38.4% in conventional alloy to 77.2% and the fraction of special triple junctions increases from 10% to 74%.During 800℃ aging treatment,quite amount of cellular η phases adjacent to random grain boundary(RGB) will be found in conventional alloy,and only a few small η phases have been observed in GBE treatment alloy subjected to the same aging treatment for long time.The reason for GBE in inhibiting precipitation of η phase can be attributed to not only introducing high fraction of SBs but also breaking the connectivity of RGB networks.As nucleation and growth of η phases on SBs are difficult due to their lower Ti concentration and diffusion rate,and the disruption of RGB networks reduces supply of Ti atoms to the η phases significantly,which impedes their growth at RGB.