Computational design of UHS maraging stainless steels incorporating composition as well as austenitisation and ageing temperatures as optimisation parameters

An extended integral alloy design approach for the development of new ultra high strength maraging steels is presented, which incorporates not only chemical composition effects but also criteria accounting for the influence of the entire heat treatment. The approach considers the desired strengthening precipitates formed during the final ageing treatment as well as undesirable equilibrium phases present during the preceding high temperature homogenisation treatment. The results are compared with the predictions of a previous model, which considered the combination of composition and final precipitation tempering stage only.     

Helium effects on the microstructural evolution of reactor irradiated ferritic and austenitic steels

Abstract

Microstructural evolution in neutron irradiated austenitic stainless steels and Cr-Mo ferritic steels is reviewed. Important highlights are: (1) there is a strong correlation between precipitation and void evolution in austenitic steels; (2) helium affects precipitate evolution in austenitic steels, but observations indicate no effect on precipitation in ferritic steels; (3) helium has a pronounced effect on the cavity evolution of the two steel types. Helium effects are explained in terms of the interrelationship between microstructural evolution and point-defect annihilation processes. In stainless steel, three relative regimes of microstructural behavior for different helium generation rate-displacement rate ratios are recognized: (1) “low” He/dpa ratio, where helium effects on the radiation-induced microstructural evolution are negligible or develop slowly, (2) “medium” He/dpa ratio, where helium effects strongly enhance the microstructural changes, and (3) “high” He/dpa ratio, where helium effects are limited to the early development of a high density of fine bubbles which interfere with other radiation-induced microstructural changes, but allow enhanced thermal microstructural evolution to take place instead. The extensive data on austenitic steels fall within these regimes. Ferritic steels are known to be highly resistant to void swelling without helium. It is suggested that enhanced cavity formation due to helium in ferritic steels makes higher swelling a potential concern for fusion reactor applications.     

A phenomenological model for bake hardening in minimal carbon steels

The essence of bake hardening is to exploit the classical strain ageing in a positive way to increase the strength of the formed steel sheets used in outer body panel of a passenger car during the paint-baking operation. A new model that takes into account the strengthening contributions from Cottrell atmosphere and precipitate formation has been developed in the present work. The model predicts the increase in strength as a function of the amount of free solute C (calculated as a function of the annealing temperature), the amount of deformation, ageing temperature and time. The model predictions have been found to agree quite well with the experimental results; the individual contributions of Cottrell atmosphere and precipitation strengthening have been quantified.     

超临界水冷堆燃料包壳材料的辐照损伤研究进展

超临界水冷堆（SCWR）是第四代核电站的主力堆型之一,高温、高压、超临界水环境下的辐照损伤问题是其燃料包壳材料面临的最大挑战。SCWR燃料包壳候选材料主要包括锆合金、奥氏体不锈钢、铁素体/马氏体不锈钢、镍基合金、ODS合金五大类,奥氏体不锈钢是最有希望的候选材料。介绍了近年来在这个领域国际上的主要研究进展。作者所在团队也对多种SCWR的候选材料进行了辐照损伤研究,包括:镍基合金C-276和718、铁素体/马氏体钢P92、奥氏体不锈钢AL-6XN和HR3C。对AL-6XN的氢离子辐照实验发现,辐照产生的缺陷主要是间隙型位错环,伯格斯矢量为1/3<111>,在较高剂量（5～7 dpa）辐照下,出现空洞肿胀。在氢滞留的影响下,位错环有着独特的演化规律,总结提出了位错环的四阶段演化过程。The Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) is one of the prior Generation IV advanced reactors. Irradiation damage is one of the key issues of fuel cladding materials which will suffer serious environment, such as high temperature, high pressure, high irradiation and supercritical water. The candidate materials contain zirconium alloys, austenitic stainless steels, ferritic/martensitic stainless steels, Ni-base alloys and ODS alloys. Austenitic stainless steels are the most promising materials. This paper summarized the international researches on irradiation effects in fuel cladding materials for SCWR. The group of authors also has done many researches in this field, including nickel-base alloy C-276 and 718, ferritic/martensitic steel P92 and austenitic stainless steel AL-6XN and HR3C. In AL-6XN austenitic stainless steels irradiated by hydrogen ions, dislocation loops were the dominant irradiation defects. At higher irradiation dose (5～7 dpa), the voids were found. All the dislocation loops were confirmed to be 1/3<111> interstitial type dislocation loops, and four evolution stages of dislocation loops with hydrogen retention were suggested.     

Microstructural aspects of long-term creep ductility of AISI 316 LN steel

Microstructural aspects of the creep plasticity and impact strength of non-stabilized austenitic CrNiMo steels with two different nitrogen contents have been evaluated. During creep exposure an intergranular precipitation of the sigma phase, M₂₃C₆ or/and Cr₂N particles produce favourable conditions for transition from typically intergranular fracture to ductile shear fractures or to intergranular ductile fractures with characteristic dimple morphology. A given type of fractures is accompanied with high values of the relative creep rupture elongation (up to 100%) dependent on temperature and time to rupture.     

静态腐蚀条件下铁素体/马氏体钢和奥氏体不锈钢与液态铅铋合金相容性研究进展

液态铅铋合金（LBE）是铅冷快中子反应堆（LFR）和加速器驱动次临界系统(ADS)的主要冷却剂材料。反应堆用结构材料（如铁素体/马氏体钢、奥氏体不锈钢等）在液态LBE环境下存在液态金属腐蚀（LMC）和应力腐蚀的问题,这些问题给钢结构材料的安全服役带来隐患。阐述了钢材铅铋腐蚀类型及机理,归纳了材料设计与处理(元素成分、热处理、加工制造和表面处理)和腐蚀条件（氧质量分数、腐蚀温度和腐蚀时间）对钢材铅铋腐蚀行为的影响机制;澄清了LBE环境下的应力腐蚀与金属脆化机制,总结了内外因素（材料种类、表面缺陷、热处理、氧质量分数、腐蚀温度和拉伸速率）对钢材拉伸性能的影响,并展望了未来铅铋反应堆结构材料的研究方向。建议面向未来的铅铋堆用钢应优化材料设计和处理方式（提高Si、Al等元素的含量、表面镀膜和热处理）同时控制LBE中环境参数（温度、氧质量分数和腐蚀时间）以提高钢材的耐铅铋腐蚀性能。     

多层奥氏体钢中超声相控阵辐射声场分析

针对一维线性超声相控阵透过楔块,在多层不同晶轴取向的奥氏体钢中的声场辐射问题,结合高斯声束等效点源模型以及基于时间最小原理的射线追踪法,给出了各层介质中透射声场的计算方法。将奥氏体钢近似为横向各向同性介质,计算了相控阵透过楔块,在晶轴取向为0°的奥氏体钢中的无延时纵波声场,计算结果与COMSOL仿真结果相吻合,从而验证了所用方法的正确性。通过加入不同的延迟法则,仿真计算了三层含有不同晶轴取向(0°,30°,100°)的奥氏体钢中的纵波声场,实现了相控阵声场的偏转与聚焦,分析了偏转声场与聚焦声场的传播特性。仿真结果表明,不同的晶轴取向将导致不同的声束偏转以及聚焦效果。通过延迟激励各阵元,虽然可以控制声束偏转或聚焦到预定位置,但是晶轴取向仍会对声束宽度以及幅值产生一定的影响。      

Microstrain in dispersion-hardened steels

Using high-resolution neutron diffraction, microstrain was investigated in three series of samples of stainless austenitic dispersion-hardened steels, which are used as various structural reactor components. The effect of temperature and duration of heat treatment on the precipitation of dispersion-hardened phase particles, as well as on lattice parameter changes and microstrain, was studied. An increase in microstrain upon coherence failure was observed in all the steels.     

Kinetics of isochronal austenization in modified high Cr ferritic heat-resistant steel

Employment of high Cr ferritic steels as a main structural material is considered as a way to achieve economical competitiveness of main steam pipe and nuclear reactors in power plants. Differential dilatometry and microstructure observation were employed to investigate the isochronal austenitic transformation of the modified high Cr ferritic steel. The kinetics of the isochronal austenitic transformation were described by a phase-transformation model involving site saturation (pre-existing nuclei), diffusion-controlled growth, and incorporating an impingement correction. The experimental results and kinetic analysis indicate that an increase of the heating rate promotes the diffusion-controlled austenitic transformation. The dissolving degree of precipitates during the austenization process affects the activation energy for diffusion and the undissolved precipitates lead to an increase of the onset temperature of the subsequent martensite transformation upon cooling.     

Effect of hydrogen on interatomic bonds in austenitic steels

Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to investigate the influence of dissolved hydrogen on the interatomic bonds in austenitic steels. It was carried out to prove the decohesion mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement (HE). It is shown that hydrogen increases Debye temperature, i.e., the interatomic bonds in hydrogenated austenitic steel becomes stronger.     

A study of the disperse-particle hardening of EI702 steel

A study was made of aging EI702 austenitic steel. It was shown that the nature of the changes in the mechanical properties (deformation resistance, coefficient of hardening) with duration of aging is determined by the initial state of the material and the temperature of aging, two factors which determine the mechanism of decomposition.The effect of precipitation hardening of EI702 steel is analyzed on the basis of the existing theories of hardening by dispersed particles.     

Genetic alloy design based on thermodynamics and kinetics

A theory-guided computational approach for alloy design is presented. Aimed at optimising the desired properties, the microstructure is designed and an alloy composition optimised accordingly, combining criteria based on thermodynamic, thermokinetic and mechanical principles. A genetic algorithm is employed as the optimisation scheme. The approach is applied to the design of ultra-high strength stainless steels. Three composition scenarios, utilising different strengthening precipitates (carbides, Cu and NiAl/Ni₃Ti), are followed. The results are compared to a variety of existing commercial high-end engineering steels, showing that the design strategy presented here may lead to significant improvements in strength beyond current levels.     

EELS study of niobium carbo-nitride nano-precipitates in ferrite

Micro-alloying steels allow higher strength to be achieved, with lower carbon contents, without a loss in toughness, weldability or formability through the generation of a fine ferrite grain size with additional strengthening being provided by the fine scale precipitation of complex carbo-nitride particles. Niobium is reported to be the most efficient micro-alloying element to achieve refinement of the final grain structure. A detailed microscopic investigation is one of the keys for understanding the first stages of the precipitation sequence, thus transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is required. Model Fe-(Nb,C) and Fe-(Nb,C,N) ferritic alloys have been studied after annealing under isothermal conditions. However the nanometre scale dimensions of the particles makes their detection, structural and chemical characterization delicate. Various imaging techniques have then been employed. Conventional TEM (CTEM) and high resolution TEM (HRTEM) were used to characterise the morphology, nature and repartition of precipitates. Volume fractions and a statistical approach to particle size distributions of precipitates have been investigated by energy filtered TEM (EFTEM) and high angle annular dark field (HAADF) imaging. Great attention was paid to the chemical analysis of precipitates; their composition has been quantified by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), on the basis of calibrated 'jump-ratios' of C-K and N-K edges over the Nb-M edge, using standards of well-defined compositions. It is shown that a significant addition of nitrogen in the alloy leads to a complex precipitation sequence, with the co-existence of two populations of particles: pure nitrides and homogeneous carbo-nitrides respectively.     

Some chemical and microstructural factors influencing creep cavitation resistance of austenitic stainless steels

Creep cavitation in materials is greatly influenced by trace elements. To enhance creep cavitation resistance, the chemical composition of 304, 321, 347 austenitic stainless steels was modified with the addition of minute amounts of boron and cerium. The addition of boron and cerium to type 304 stainless steel led to an increase in its creep rupture life with an associated decrease in creep rupture ductility. The addition of boron and cerium to the titanium-containing 321 steel and niobium-containing 347 steel was found to increase their creep rupture life and ductility. Creep cavitation was highly suppressed in the 347 and 321 steels with the addition of boron and cerium. The chemistry of the grain boundary and creep cavity surface was analyzed by Auger electron spectroscopy. Extensive sulphur segregation was observed on the grain boundary and cavity surface of the steels without boron and cerium addition and even in the 304 steel containing boron and cerium. In the boron- and cerium-containing 347 and 321 steels, respectively, segregation of elemental boron and the BN compound on the cavity surface were observed. These segregations reduced cavity growth rate substantially in these steels and BN segregation was found to be more effective in reducing cavity growth rate than boron segregation. Cerium acts as a getter for soluble sulphur in the steels by precipitation of ceriumoxysulfide (Ce₂O₂S) to facilitate the segregation of boron on the cavity surface.     

Scientific basis for cold brittleness of structural BCC steels and their structural degradation at below zero temperatures

The paper considers the physics of cold brittleness of structural bcc steels and methods of reducing the ductile-brittle fracture temperature. A complex study was performed to examine the degradation of structural phase state of pipe steel 09Mn2Si from the main gas pipeline of Yakutia after long-term (over 3 0 years) operation. Important regularities of degradation of pearlite colonies with carbide precipitation on ferrite grain boundaries were revealed. This phenomenon is associated with brittle fracture of gas pipelines. It is shown that the low-temperature kinetic processes in main pipelines which define the degradation of their structure and properties are related to interstitial athermal structural states in the zones of local crystal structure curvature. This is a fundamentally new, as yet unknown, mechanism. Pipe steels in warm rolling acquire a longitudinal textured band structure with alternating bands of initial ferrite grains and bands of fine grains with carbide precipitates formed during lamellar pearlite degradation. This type of structure allows for a shift of ductile-brittle transition temperature down to -80°C and ductility δ = 22% at this temperature. The production of high-curvature vortex structure in pipe steel surface layers results in a 3.5-fold increase in their service life.     

Maps of intragranular precipitation strengthening

Maps of strengthening by small (semi)coherent precipitates homogeneously dispersed in the grains have been constructed. They can show the most probable dislocation-particle interaction mechanism and the strengthening effect of a given dispersion of particles. As an application, the effect of-Ni₃(Al, Ti) and M₂₃C₆ precipitation in austenitic steels is discussed.     

Atomistic multiscale simulations on the anisotropic tensile behaviour of copper-alloyed alpha-iron at different states of thermal ageing

The mechanical behaviour of steels is strongly related to their underlying atomistic structures which evolve during thermal treatment. Cu-alloyed α-Fe undergoes a change in material behaviour during the ageing process, especially at temperatures of above 300°C, where precipitates form on a large time-scale within the α-Fe matrix, yielding first a precipitation strengthening of the material. As the precipitates grow further in time, the material strength decreases again. This complex process is modelled with a multiscale approach, combining Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) with Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations in a sequential way and exploiting the advantages of both methods while simultaneously circumventing their particular disadvantages. The formation of precipitates is modelled on a single-crystal lattice with a diffusion based KMC approach. Transferring selected precipitation states at different ageing times to MD simulations allows the performance of nano tensile tests and the analysis of failure initiation. The anisotropic tensile behaviour is investigated in the [100], [110] and [111] directions, showing monotonically decreasing tensile strengths and deformation strains. Hence precipitation strengthening is mainly due to dislocation–precipitate interactions which are non-existent at small tensile loadings in this scenario. At the point of ductile failure, dislocations are generated at the interfaces between precipitates and the Fe matrix. Straining in the [100] direction, they lie on {110} and {112} glide planes, as expected. With the method presented here, the changes of the anisotropic tensile moduli are related to different states of thermal ageing, i.e., to nucleation, growth and Ostwald ripening of Cu precipitates.     

Peculiar Features of Thermal Aging and Degradation of Rapidly Quenched Stainless Steels under High-Temperature Exposures

This article presents the results of comparative studies of mechanical properties and microstructure of nuclear fuel tubes and semifinished stainless steel items fabricated by consolidation of rapidly quenched powders and by conventional technology after high-temperature exposures at 600 and 700°C. Tensile tests of nuclear fuel tube ring specimens of stainless austenitic steel of grade AISI 316 and ferritic–martensitic steel are performed at room temperature. The microstructure and distribution of carbon and boron are analyzed by metallography and autoradiography in nuclear fuel tubes and semifinished items. Rapidly quenched powders of the considered steels are obtained by the plasma rotating electrode process. Positive influence of consolidation of rapidly quenched powders on mechanical properties after high-temperature aging is confirmed. The correlation between homogeneous distribution of carbon and boron and mechanical properties of the considered steel is determined. The effects of thermal aging and degradation of the considered steels are determined at 600°C and 700°C, respectively.