Effect of Solution Treatment on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of High-Borated Steel Composites

High-borated stainless steels prepared via ingot casting and hot rolling have a relatively low ductility, which limits their use as structural and functional materials in fuel reprocessing systems. In this study, 2.1 wt.% B stainless steel composites were prepared by a novel method of hot-roll bonding and solution treatment using an ingot casting slab and two layers of boron-free stainless steel. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of solution treatment on the interfacial microstructure and mechanical properties of high-borated stainless steel composites. As expected, a high-borated stainless steel slab containing many brittle ceramic (Cr, Fe) 2 B-type particles was successfully hot-rolled and bonded with boron-free stainless steel slabs. Furthermore, metallurgical bonding was realized via the formation of ~ 50 μm wide transition regions by solution treatment, for which the mechanism was found to consist of recrystallization and diffusion-controlled reactions. The formation of transition regions enhanced the geometrical restriction effect. Neither delamination nor cracking was observed along the interfaces during a bending test of the composite plates.