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Effect of nitrogen alloying on the microstructure and abrasive wear of stainless steels

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Abstract

Alloying stainless steels with nitrogen has distinct advantages. Nitrogen is a strong austenite stabilizer and a potent solid-solution strengthener, and nitrogen has greater solubility than carbon in iron. This study investigates the relationship among nitrogen concentration, precipitate microstructure, and abrasive wear using two high-nitrogen stainless steel alloys: Fe-19Cr-5Mn-5Ni-3Mo (SSI) and Fe-16Cr-7Mn-5Ni (SS2). Alloy SSI contained 0.7 wt% N and was solution annealed at 1150 °C, thereby dissolving the nitrogen interstitially in the austenite. Subsequent aging, or cold work and aging, at 900 °C led to the grain-boundary, cellular, and transgranular precipitation of Cr 2 N. Alloy SS2 was remelted in a highpressure (200 MPa) N 2 atmosphere, leading to a spatial gradient of nitrogen in the alloy in the form of interstitial nitrogen and Cr 2 N and CrN precipitates. Nitrogen contents varied from a low of approximately 0.7 wt % at the bottom of the billet to a high of 3.6 wt % at the top. Nitrogen in excess of approximately 0.7 wt% formed increasingly coarser and more numerous Cr 2 N and CrN precipitates. The precipitate morphology created in alloy SSI due to aging, or cold work and aging, had little effect on the abrasive wear of the alloy. However, a decrease in the abrasive wear rate in alloy SS2 was observed to correspond to the increase in number and size of the Cr 2 N and CrN precipitates.

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  1. U.S. Bureau of Mines, Albany Research Center, 97321, Albany, OR, USA

    J. A. Hawk, J. W. Simmons & J. C. Raviers

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  1. J. A. Hawk
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  2. J. W. Simmons
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  3. J. C. Raviers
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Hawk, J.A., Simmons, J.W. & Raviers, J.C. Effect of nitrogen alloying on the microstructure and abrasive wear of stainless steels. JMEP 3, 259–272 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02645852

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