Abstract
In the present work, a study of the effect of precipitation on the fracture toughness at cryogenic temperatures was carried out in two austenitic stainless steels, nitrogen-containing steel and 316-type steel, after isothermal aging. Both steels were solution treated, cold-water quenched, and then aged at temperatures of 600, 700, 800 and 900 °C for times between 10 and 1000 min. The precipitation of these steels was characterized with a scanning electron microscope, and precipitates were analyzed by X-ray diffraction analysis of extracted precipitates, after electrolytic dissolution of austenitic matrix. The fracture toughness of steels was evaluated by the Charpy V-notch impact testing at − 196 °C, and fracture surfaces were observed in a scanning electron microscope. The results showed an intergranular precipitation of carbides M23C6 for both aged steels. However, the kinetics and percentage of intergranular precipitates were higher in the N-containing steel than that in the 316-type steel. The decrease in Charpy impact energy with aging time was higher in the N-containing steel and associated with its higher percentage of intergranular precipitation. That is, the N-containing steel is more susceptible to embrittlement due to isothermal aging than the 316-type steel. The fracture mode of the aged 316-type steel was transgranular ductile. In contrast, that of the N-containing steel changed from transgranular ductile to intergranular brittle as the aging process promoted more abundant intergranular precipitation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Marshal P (1984) Austenitic stainless steels microstructure and properties. Elsevier Applied Science Publisher, UK
Stoter LP (1981) Thermal ageing effects in AISI type 316 stainless steel. J Mat Sci 16:1039–1051
Simmons JW, Atteridge JD, Rawers JS (1994) Sensitization of high-nitrogen austenitic stainless steels by dichromium nitride precipitation. Corrosion 50:491–501
Lee EH, Mansur LK (2000) Fe-15Ni-13Cr austenitic stainless steels for fission and fusion reactor applications. II. Effects of minor elements on precipitate phase stability during thermal aging. J Nuc Mater 278:11–19
Saucedo ML, Watanabe MY, Shoji T, Takahashi H (2000) Effect of microstructure evolution on fracture toughness in isothermally aged austenitic stainless steels for cryogenic applications. Cryogenics J Nuc Mater 40:693–700
NRIM (2003) Metallographic atlas of long-term creep materials No. M-2. National Research Institute for Metals, Japan
Gavriljuk VG (1996) Nitrogen in iron and steel. ISIJ Inter 36:840–845
Saucedo-Muñoz ML, Lopez-Hirata VM (2007) Precipitation in aged N-containing austenitic stainless steels. Mater Sci For 561–565:2275–2278
Thermo-Calc software 2022b/tcfe9 data
Muster WJ, Elster J (1990) Low temperature embrittlement after ageing stainless steels. Cryogenics 30:799–802
Kostorz G (2001) Phase transformations in materials. Wiley-VCH, Germany
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the financial support from SIP-COFAA-IPN and CONACYT A1-S-9682.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
About this paper
Cite this paper
Saucedo-Muñoz, M.L., Lopez-Hirata, V.M., Villegas-Cárdenas, J.D. (2024). Cryogenic Toughness of Austenitic Stainless Steels After Aging. In: Peng, Z., et al. Characterization of Minerals, Metals, and Materials 2024. TMS 2024. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50304-7_35
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50304-7_35
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-50303-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-50304-7
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)