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Title: High-temperature metallurgy of advanced borated stainless steels

Journal Article · · Metallurgical Transactions, A
;  [1]
  1. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States). Physical and Joining Metallurgy Dept.

The high-temperature metallurgy of advanced borated stainless steels has been evaluated through differential thermal analysis, aging studies, quantitative metallography, and impact toughness measurements. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was conducted on alloys containing a range of boron concentrations and was used to determine the temperatures associated with melting/solidification reactions. Aging studies, conducted at temperatures near the solidus, were used to determine the effects of elevated temperature exposures on impact properties and microstructure. Differential thermal analysis quantified the solidus and liquidus temperatures as a function of boron concentration. Impact testing of samples aged at temperatures near the solidus indicated only moderate reductions in toughness. Particle shape measurements indicated that the boride particles were initially nearly spherical and remained so during elevated temperature exposure, although some faceting and agglomeration of the borides did occur. Measurements of boride particle size distributions were used to define the time, temperature, and composition dependence of the boride coarsening. Coarsening data were analyzed in terms of current coarsening models. These analyses indicated that the boride particle coarsening followed the theoretically predicted t{sup 1/3} time dependence and that the coarsening rate increased with increasing volume fraction of the boride phase. Analysis of the particle size data for aging at various temperatures indicated that the boride coarsening was consistent with the activation energy for Cr diffusion in austenite. Scanning electron microscopy of the impact fracture surfaces showed that the failure mode in isothermally heat-treated samples was ductile and essentially identical to the failure mode for as-received material. The steels are important because of their use in the nuclear industry.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
87692
Journal Information:
Metallurgical Transactions, A, Vol. 26, Issue 7; Other Information: PBD: Jul 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English