Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of the Newly Developed Steel (Low-C-18cr-11ni-3cu-Mo-Nb-B-N) After Aging Treatment

Abstract In petroleum refinery plants, materials with high sensitization resistance are required. 347AP has particularly been developed for such applications and shows good sensitization resistance owing to its low C content. However, further improvement in high temperature strength is required for high temperature operations in complex refineries, such as delayed cokers. Recently, a new austenitic stainless steel (low C 18Cr-11Ni-3Cu-Mo-Nb-B-N, UNS No. S34752) with high sensitization resistance and high strength at elevated temperatures has been developed. In this study, the mechanical properties and microstructures of several aged specimens will be reported. By conducting several aging heat treatments in the range of 550–750 °C for 300–10,000 h on the developed steel, it was revealed that there were only few coarse precipitates that assumed sigma phase even after aging at 750 °C for 10,000 h. This indicates that the newly developed steel has superior phase stability. The developed steel drastically increased its Vickers hardness by short-term aging treatments. Through transmission electron microscopy observations, the fine precipitates of Cu-rich phase were observed dispersedly in the ruptured specimen. Therefore, the increase in Vickers hardness in short-term aging is possibly owing to the dispersed precipitation of Cu-rich phase. There was further increase in Vickers hardness owing to Z phase precipitation; however, the increment was smaller than that caused by Cu-rich phase. The newly developed alloy demonstrated excellent creep rupture strength even in the long-term tests of approximately 30,000 h, which is attributed to these precipitates.