Effect of micro-alloying Nb and Ti on solidification structure in 430 ferritic stainless steel

With the increase in the content of carbon, nitrogen and titanium in 430 ferritic stainless steel, the refinement of the solidification structure is obvious and the proportion of equiaxed grain increases remarkably as well. This is attributed to the increasing role of the inhomogeneous nucleation by TiN particles during solidification. In addition, more fine precipitations of （Ti ,Nb）N are found in steel with increased carbon and nitrogen content.

Effect of Precipitation on Intergranular Corrosion Resistance of 430 Ferritic Stainless Steel

With Nb-Ti-stabilized 430 ferritic stainless steel（NTS430FSS） and SUS 430 ferritic stainless steel（SUS430FSS） as experimental materials, the influence of precipitation on intergranular corrosion resistance was investigated. A series of aging treatment were carried out. The free-exposure corrosion test and double loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation（DL-EPR） test with a scan rate of 1.67 m V/s at 26 °C were applied to evaluate the intergranular corrosion（IGC） resistance. Metallographic observation, scanning electron microscope（SEM）, transmission electron microscope（TEM） with energy dispersive spectroscopy（EDS） and X-ray diffraction（XRD） analysis were conducted. The results show that IGC occurred in SUS430 FSS aged above 700 °C, while it occurred in NTS430 FSS as the temperature was improved to 1 050 °C. The critical degree of sensitization Ir/Ia reaches 0.305 in SUS430 FSS, which is higher than that of NTS430 FSS, i.e. 0.010, aged at 950 °C for 2 h. The TEM, EDS and XRD results show that a large amount of Cr23C6 precipitates with size of 60 nm×22 nm are located at the SUS430 FSS grain boundaries as chains. With the addition of Nb and Ti and reduction of C, the amount of precipitates reduces significantly in NTS430 FSS. A majority of Cr23C6 were replaced by Ti C and Nb C. Only a small amount of spherical Ti C（R=186 nm） and square Ti N（312 nm×192 nm） with Nb and Cr adsorbed are left along grain boundaries. Due to the dual stabilization of Nb and Ti, the precipitation of Cr23C6 is restrained, the chromium depleted region is avoided and accordingly the resistance to the intergranular corrosion is improved.

Solidification Structure Refining of 430 Ferrite Stainless Steel With TiN Nucleation

The thermodynamics of TiN precipitation in liquid steel of 430 ferrite stainless steel has been calculated to find out the condition of TiN precipitation during the initial solidification stage. The difference in the solidification structure of 430 ferrite stainless steel has been discussed through comparative tests of vacuum induction furnace melting with different contents of Ti. It has been found that the equiaxed grain proportion can be increased from 20% to 69% as the content of Ti from 0.1% up to 0. 4%. The size of the TiN particles precipitated is 1-3 μm and the number of TiN particles is about （200- 300）/μm^2. It is found that the effect of using TiN to refine the solidification structure has been confirmed under the strict process condition used for 430 ferrite stainless steel.