Pitting corrosion and crevice corrosion behaviors of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels

Pitting corrosion and crevice corrosion behaviors of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels （HNSS） were investigated by electrochemical and immersion testing methods in chloride solution, respectively. The chemical constitution and composition in the depth of passive films formed on HNSS were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectrum （XPS）. HNSS has excellent pitting and crevice corrosion resistance compared to 316L stainless steel. With increasing the nitrogen content in steels, pitting potentials and critical pitting temperature （CPT） increase, and the maximum, average pit depths and average weight loss decrease. The CPT of HNSS is correlated with the alloying element content through the measure of alloying for resistance to corrosion （MARC）. The MARC can be expressed as an equation of CPT=2.55MARC-29. XPS results show that HNSS exhibiting excellent corrosion resistance is attributed to the enrichment of nitrogen on the surface of passive films, which forms ammonium ions increasing the local pH value and facilitating repassivation, and the synergistic effects of molybdenum and nitrogen.

High Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steels Manufactured by Nitrogen Gas Alloying and Adding Nitrided Ferroalloys

A simple and feasible method for the production of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels involves nitrogen gas alloying and adding nitrided ferroalloys under normal atmospheric conditions. Alloying by nitrogen gas bubbling in Fe-Cr-Mn-Mo series alloys was carried out in MoSi2 resistance furnace and air induction furnace under normal atmospheric conditions. The results showed that nitrogen alloying could be accelerated by increasing nitrogen gas flow rate, prolonging residence time of bubbles, increasing gas/molten steel interfaces, and decreasing the sulphur and oxygen contents in molten steel. Nitrogen content of 0.69% in 18Crl8Mn was obtained using air induction furnace by bubbling of nitrogen gas from porous plug. In addition, the nickel-free, high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels with sound and compact macrostructure had been produced in the laboratory using vacuum induction furnace and electroslag remelting furnace under nitrogen atmosphere by the addition of nitrided alloy with the maximum nitrogen content of 0.81%. Pores were observed in the ingots obtained by melting and casting in vacuum induction furnace with the addition of nitrided ferroalloys and under nitrogen atmosphere. After electroslag remelting of the cast ingots, they were all sound and were free of pores. The yield of nitrogen increased with the decrease of melting rate in the ESR process. Due to electroslag remelting under nitrogen atmosphere and the consequential addition of aluminum as deoxidizer to the slag, the loss of manganese decreased obviously. There existed mainly irregular Al2O3 inclusions and MnS inclusions in ESR ingots, and the size of most of the inclusions was less than 5 um. After homogenization of the hot rolled plate at 1 150℃ × 1 h followed by water quenching, the microstructure consisted of homogeneous austenite.

Fabrication of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels with excellent mechanical and pitting corrosion properties

A series of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels were successfully developed with a pressurized electroslag remelting furnace. Nitride additives and deoxidizer were packed into the stainless steel pipes, and then the stainless steel pipes were welded on the surface of an electrode with low nitrogen content to prepare a compound electrode. Using Si3N4 as a nitrogen alloying source, the silicon contents in the ingots were prone to be out of the specification range, the electric current fluctuated greatly and the surface qualities of the ingots were poor. The surface qualities of the ingots were improved with FeCrN as a nitrogen alloying source. The sound and compact macrostructure ingot with the maximum nitrogen content of 1.21wt% can be obtained. The 18Cr18Mn2Mo0.9N high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel exhibits high strength and good ductility at room temperature. The steel shows typical ductile-brittle transition behavior and excellent pitting corrosion resistance properties.

Intergranular corrosion behavior of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel

The intergranular corrosion （IGC） behavior of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel （HNSS） sensitization treated at 650-950℃ was investigated by the double loop electrochemical potentiodynamic reactivation （DL-EPR） method. The effects of the electrolytes, scan rate, sensitizing temperature on the susceptibility to IGC of HNSS were examined. The results show that the addi-tion of NaCl is an effective way to improve the formation of the cracking of a passive film in chromium-depleted zones during the reactivation scan. Decreasing the scan rate exhibits an obvious effect on the breakdown of the passive film. A solution with 2 mol/L H2SO4＋1 mol/L NaCl＋0.01 mol/L KSCN is suitable to check the susceptibility to IGC of HNSS at a sensitizing temperature of 650-950℃ at a suitable scan rate of 1.667 mV/s. Chromium depletion of HNSS is attributed to the precipitation of Cr2N which results in the susceptibility to IGC. The synergistic effect of Mo and N is suggested to play an important role in stabilizing the passive film to prevent the attack of IGC.

Effects of cold rolling deformation on microstructure,hardness,and creep behavior of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel

Effects of cold rolling deformation on the microstructure, hardness, and creep behavior of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel （HNASS） are investigated. Microstructure characterization shows that 70% cold rolling deformation results in significant refinement of the microstructure of this steel, with its average twin thickness reducing from 6.4 μm to 14 nm. Nanoindentation tests at different strain rates demonstrate that the hardness of the steel with nano-scale twins （nt-HNASS） is about 2 times as high as that of steel with micro-scale twins （mt-HNASS）. The hardness of nt-HNASS exhibits a pronounced strain rate dependence with a strain rate sensitivity （m value） of 0.0319, which is far higher than that of mt-HNASS （m = 0.0029）. nt-HNASS shows more significant load plateaus and a higher creep rate than mt-HNASS. Analysis reveals that higher hardness and larger m value of nt-HNASS arise from stronger strain hardening role, which is caused by the higher storage rate of dislocations and the interactions between dislocations and high density twins. The more significant load plateaus and higher creep rates of nt-HNASS are due to the rapid relaxation of the dislocation structures generated during loading.

Precipitates in an isothermally aged Fe-18Cr-12Mn-0.04C-0.48N high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel

Vertical section of Fe-18Cr-12Mn-0.04C-N system phase diagram varying with nitrogen content at 1×105 Pa was calculated using Thermo-Calc software and thermodynamic database.The morphology and crystallography information of precipitates in Fe-18Cr-12Mn-0.04C-0.48N high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel during isothermal aging at 800 ℃ after austenization was investigated using optical microscopy(OM),and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) with energy distribution spectrum(EDS).The experimental results show that three precipitates,(Cr,Fe,Mn)2(N,C),(Cr,Fe,Mn)23(C,N)6 and σ phase exist in this steel,which is consistent with the thermodynamic calculation,indicating that thermodynamic calculation can provide instructions for alloy composition design,heat treatment and prediction of precipitation sequence in Fe-18Cr-12Mn-0.04C-N system.

Influence of chemical composition and cold deformation on aging precipitation behavior of high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels

The influence of chemical composition and cold deformation on aging precipitation behavior of 18Cr-16Mn-2Mo-I.IN （HNS-A）, 18Cr-16Mn-I.3N （HNS-B）, 18Cr-18Mn-2Mo-0.96N （HNS-C） and 18Cr-18Mn-2Mo-0.77N （I-INS-D） high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels was investigated. The results show that the ＂nose＂ temperatures and incubation periods of the initial time-temperature-precipitation （TTP） curves of aged HNSs are found to be 850 ℃, 60 s; 850 ℃, 45 s; 850 ℃, 60 s and 900 ℃, 90 s, respectively. Based on the analysis of SAD patterns, the coarse cellular Cr2N precipitate which presents a lamellar structure has a hexagonal structure of a=0.478 nm and c=0.444 nm. The Z phase corresponding to a composition of Fe36Cr^2Mo10, is determined to be a body-centered cubic structure ofa=0.892 nm. The precipitating sensitivity presents no more difference with the nitrogen content increasing from 0.77% to 0.96%, but exhibits so obviously that the cellular precipitates nearly overspread the whole field. The addition of Mo element can restrain the TTP curves moving left and down, which means decreasing the sensitivity of aging precipitation. With increasing the cold deformation, the sensitivity of precipitation increases obviously.

Strain rate and cold rolling dependence of tensile strength and ductility in high nitrogen nickel-free austenitic stainless steel

The tensile strength and ductility of a high nitrogen nickel-free austenitic stainless steel with solution and cold rolling treatment were investigated by performing tensile tests at different strain rates and at room temperature. The tensile tests demonstrated that this steel exhibits a significant strain rate and cold rolling dependence of the tensile strength and ductility.With the increase of the strain rate from 10^-4s^-1to 1 s^-1, the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength increase and the uniform elongation and total elongation decrease. The analysis of the double logarithmic stress–strain curves showed that this steel exhibits a two-stage strain hardening behavior, which can be well examined and analyzed by using the Ludwigson equation. The strain hardening exponents at low and high strain regions（n2and n1） and the transition strain（εL） decrease with increasing strain rate and the increase of cold rolling RA. Based on the analysis results of the stress–strain curves, the transmission electron microscopy characterization of the microstructure and the scanning electron microscopy observation of the deformation surfaces, the significant strain rate and cold rolling dependence of the strength and ductility of this steel were discussed and connected with the variation in the work hardening and dislocation activity with strain rate and cold rolling.

Mechanical Properties and Microstructure Evolution of Cold-deformed High-nitrogen Nickel-free Austenitic Stainless Steel during Annealing

The mechanical properties and microstructure evolution of cold-deformed CrMnN austenitic stainless steel annealed in a temperature ranging from 50 ℃ to 650 ℃ for 90 min and at 550 ℃ for different time were investigated by tensile test, micro hardness test, and Transmission Electron Microscope （TEM）. The steel was strengthened when it got annealed at temperatures ranging from 100 ℃ to 550 ℃, while it was softened when it got annealed at temperatures ranging from 550 ℃ to 650 ℃. Annealing temperature had stronger effect on mechanical properties than annealing time. TEM observations showed that nano-sized precipitates formed when the steel was annealed at 150 ℃ for 90 min, but the size and density of precipitates had no noticeable change with annealing temperature and time. Recrystallization occurred when the steel was annealed at temperatures above 550 ℃ for 90 min, and its scale increased with annealing temperature. Nano-sized annealing twins were observed. The mechanisms that controlled the mechanical behaviors of the steel were discussed.

Effect of Grain Size on Mechanical Properties of Nickel-Free High Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steel

The fine grained structures of nickel-free high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels had been obtained by means of cold rolling and subsequent annealing. The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties and gain size of nickel-free high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels was examined. High strength and good ductility of the steel were found. In the grain size range, the Hall-Petch dependency for yield stress, tensile strength, and hardness was valid for grain size ranges for the nickel-free high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel. In the present study, the ductility of cold rolled nickel-free high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel decreased with annealing time when the grain size was refined. The fracture surfaces of the tensile specimens in the grain size range were covered with dimples as usually seen in a ductile fracture mode.

Aging Precipitation Behavior of 18Cr-16Mn-2Mo-1.1N High Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steel and Its Influences on Mechanical Properties

The solution-treated (ST) condition and aging precipitation behavior of 18Cr-16Mn-2Mo-1.1N high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel (HNS) were investigated by optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that the ST condition of 18Cr-16Mn-2Mo-1.1N HNS with wN above 1% is identified as 1100 ℃ for 90 min, followed by water quenching to make sure the secondary phases completely dissolve into austenitic matrix and prevent the grains coarsening too much. Initial time-temperature-precipitation (TTP) curve of aged 18Cr-16Mn-2Mo-1.1N HNS which starts with precipitation of 0.05% in volume fraction is defined and the 'nose' temperature of precipitation is found to be 850 ℃ with an incubation period of 1 min. Hexagonal intergranular and cellular Cr2N with a=0.478 nm and c=0.444 nm precipitates gradually increase in the isothermal aging treatment. The matrix nitrogen depletion due to the intergranular and a few cellular Cr2N precipitates induces the decay of Vickers hardness, and the increment of cellular Cr2N causes the increase in the values. Impact toughness presents a monotonic decrease and SEM morphologies show the leading brittle intergranular fracture. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS) and elongation (El) deteriorate obviously. Stress concentration occurs when the matrix dislocations pile up at the interfaces of precipitation and matrix, and the interfacial dislocations may become precursors to the misfit dislocations, which can form small cleavage facets and accelerate the formation of cracks.

Precipitation Kinetics of Cr_2N in High Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steel

The precipitation behavior of Cr2 N during isothermal aging in the temperature range from 700 ℃ to 950 ℃ in Fe-18Cr-12Mn-0.48N （in mass percent） high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel, including morphology and content of precipitate, was investigated using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The isothermal precipitation kinetics curve of Cr2 N and the corresponding precipitation activation energy were obtained. The results show that Cr2N phase precipitates in a cellular way and its morphology is transformed from initial granular precipitates to lamellar ones in the cell with increasing aging time. The nose temperature of Cr2 N precipitation is about 800 ℃, with a corresponding incubation period of 30 min, and the ceiling temperature of Cr2N precipitation is 950℃. The diffusionactivation energy of Cr2 N precipitation is 296 kJ/mol.

Effect of the heat input on microstructure and properties of submerged arc welded joint of 08Cr19MnNi3Cu2N stainless steel

SAW308L submerged arc welding wire and SJ601A submerged arc welding flux were selected to weld the 12 mm 08Cr19MnNi3Cu2N low nickel and high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel plates with three different welding heat input,and microstructure,tensile properties,microhardness and corrosion properties of the welded joints were studied.The results show that no defects are found in the three groups of welded joints,and the welded joints have better performance.The tensile strength of 08Cr19MnNi3Cu2N stainless steel welded joints with different heat input is slightly lower than that of the base metal,and fracture occurs in the weld zone,and the hardness of the weld zone is lower than that of the base metal.The weld microstructure of stainless steel welded joints with different heat input is composed of austenite+δferrite,and ferrite is uniformly distributed in austenite.With the increase of the welding heat input,the ferrite content in the weld zone decrease gradually,the grain size in the thermal affected zone increase gradually,and the impact toughness reduce.

Effect of Preheating Temperature on Surface Cracking of High Nitrogen CrMn Austenitic Stainless Steel

18Mn18Cr0.5N steel specimens were preheated at the temperatures from 1100 to 1250°C for 5 min,and then cooled to 950°C and compressed.The cracking behaviors were investigated using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.The results showed that the hot workability of 18Mn18Cr0.5N steel gradually decreased with increasing preheating temperature between 1100 and 1200°C,and quickly deteriorated up to 1250°C.Above 1200°C,delta ferrite particles appeared in 18Mn18Cr0.5N steel,promoted cavity coalescence on grain boundary,and accelerated surface crack formation during the hot working process.

Effect of cold deformation on corrosion fatigue behavior of nickel-free high nitrogen austenitic stainless steel for coronary stent application

Due to the excellent mechanical properties, good corrosion resistance, high biocompatibility and nickel- free character, the high nitrogen nickel-free austenitic stainless steel （HNASS） becomes an ideally alternative material for coronary stents. Stent implantation works in harsh blood environment after a balloon dilatation, i.e., the material is used in a corrosive environment with a permanent deforma- tion. The present study attempts to investigate effects of pre-straining on high-cycle fatigue behavior and corrosion fatigue behavior of HNASS in Hank＇s solution and the relevant mechanism for coronary stents application. It is found that higher pre-straining on HNASS results in higher strength and maintains almost same corrosion resistance. Fatigue limit of 0% HNASS is 550 MPa, while corrosion fatigue limit is 475 MPa. And improvement in fatigue limit of 20% and 35% pre-strained HNASS is in comparison with the 0% HNASS, while corrosion would undermine the fatigue behavior of HNASS. In a suitable range, the pre- straining had a beneficial effect on corrosion fatigue strength of HNASS, such as nearly 300 MPa improved with 20% cold deformation. This result provides a good reference for predicting the life of HNASS stent and as well its design.

Optimization of Grain Boundary Character Distribution in Fe-18Cr-18Mn-0.63N High-Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steel

Grain boundary engineering（GBE） is a practice of improving resistance to grain boundary failure of the material through increasing the proportion of low Σ coincidence site lattice（CSL） grain boundaries（special grain boundaries） in the grain boundary character distribution（GBCD）. The GBCD in a cold rolled and annealed Fe-18Cr-18Mn-0.63N high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel was analyzed by electron back scatter difraction（EBSD）. The results show that the optimization process of GBE in the conventional austenitic stainless steel cannot be well applied to this high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel. The percentage of low ΣCSL grain boundaries could increase from 47.3% for the solid solution treated high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel specimen to 82.0% for the specimen after 5% cold rolling reduction and then annealing at 1423 K for 10 min.These special boundaries of high proportion efectively interrupt the connectivity of conventional high angle grain boundary network and thus achieve the GBCD optimization for the high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steel.

Comparison of microstructure and property of high chromium bearing steel with and without nitrogen addition

Microstructure and property of bearing steel with and without nitrogen addition were investigated by microstructural observation and hardness measurement after different heat treatment processing. Based on the microstructural observation of both 9Cr18 steel and X90N steel, it was found that nitrogen addition could effectively reduce the amount and size of coarse carbides and also refine the original austenite grain size. Due to addition of nitrogen, more austenite phase was found in X90N steel than in 9Cr18 steel. The retained austenite of X90N steel after quenching at 1050℃ could be reduced from about 60% to about 7 9% by cold treatment at -73℃ and subsequent tempering, and thus finally increased the hardness up to 60 HRC after low temperature tempering and to 63 HRC after high temperature tempering. Furthermore, both the wear and corrosion resistance of X90N steel were found much more superior than those of 9Cr18 steel, which was attributed to the addition of nitrogen. It was proposed at last that nitrogen alloying into the high chromium bearing steel was a promising way not only to refine the size of both carbides and austenite, but also to achieve high hardness, high wear property and improved corrosion resistance of the stainless bearing steel.

A simple method of synthesizing multi-wall carbon nanotubes/SnO core/shell nanostructure

Multi-wall carbon nanotubes(MWNTs)/SnO core/shell nanosturcture was synthesized by a simple solution-based method,in which SnCl2 was solved in distilled water containing dispersed MWNTs,then stired,filtered and washed in ambient atmosphere,finally dryed in air at 90 ℃ for 6 h.The MWNTs/SnO core/shell nanostructure was characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD),transmission electron microscopy(TEM).It is found that surface defects of MWNTs are necessary for the deposition of SnO.The mechanism of the SnO nanocoating formation through the hydrolysis of SnCl2 in water(4SnCl_2+2H_2O-Sn_4(OH)2Cl_6+2HCl) was presented.