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Effect of Thermal Aging on Deformation and Fracture Properties of SS 304HCu

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Abstract

Austenitic stainless steel 304HCu is one of the candidate materials for superheater and re-heater tubing of advanced ultra-supercritical power plant. Though the material is expected to have Cu-rich nanosized precipitates in the matrix in the initial stages of aging, the other elements like Cr, Nb, C and N may lead to precipitations which significantly influence the deformation and fracture properties after long-term aging. This study carries out a detailed microstructural investigation for aging duration up to 20,000 h at 700 °C. The variation of hardness and room temperature tensile deformation parameters has been studied in the light of the microstructural variation during aging. It is understood that though the nanosized Cu-rich precipitates give rise to the initial hardening, the tensile and deformation properties are ultimately governed by the M23C6-type precipitates at the grain boundary and MX-type precipitates at the matrix. The as-received SS 304HCu shows a fracture toughness of 300 kJ m−2, which dropped to 100 kJ m−2 after 10,000 h of aging. This is attributed to grain boundary embrittlement arising from continuous network of M23C6-type precipitates.

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Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely acknowledge AUSC PEC for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    G. Shanthi, M. Nanibabu & S. A. Krishnan

  2. Homi Bhabha National Institute and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

    A. Moitra & M. Vasudevan

Authors
  1. G. Shanthi
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  2. M. Nanibabu
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Correspondence to A. Moitra.

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Shanthi, G., Nanibabu, M., Krishnan, S.A. et al. Effect of Thermal Aging on Deformation and Fracture Properties of SS 304HCu. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 32, 4575–4584 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-022-07408-w

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