The ability of metals and alloys to form and retain protective oxide scales is crucial to their stability at elevated temperatures for extended times. Hence the identification of factors that promote or limit the integrity of oxides on high temperature materials has been the subject of intensive investigations. In the present study the mechanical properties of this chromium-rich scale on 304 stainless steel foil has been investigated in relation to the deformation rates in the substrate. It was shown that heavy cold working (up to 90%) delays the onset of breakaway oxidation and results in a very adherent scale. The cracking behaviour of the scale was found to be strain rate and temperature dependent under slow strain rate conditions when the substrate deforms by creep. No strain rate dependence was observed over the temperature range 700-900°C when faster strain rates (> 10⁻⁵ sec⁻¹) were applied. The transition between these two responses was found to vary only slightly with temperature between 5.0x10⁻⁵ sec⁻¹ and 7.8x10⁻⁵ sec⁻¹, increasing as the temperature is raised. A new method has been described for determining the fracture behaviour of oxide scale by estimating the composite defect size. From a knowledge of the onset of scale cracking, determined in situ using the acoustic emission technique, it was possible to correlate the measured intercrack spacing with the fracture toughness from which the tensile properties of the scale can be evaluated.

A dissertation submitted to the University of the Witwatersrand in fulfillment of the degree of Master of Science, Engineering. Johannesburg, 1995. / Some authors define weldebility as the ability of a material to maintain its integrity, that is, its microstructure, corrosion and mechanical properties after welding. If such a stringent criteria is used to adequately describe the weldability of a material, then there would be but a few alloys which could be deemed weldable. As such this definition was found to be much to restrictive, and the author, has defined the term 'weldability' as the ability of a material to retain its corrosion and mechanical properties, such that the integrity of an as-welded structure under a particular service environment would be maintained to within acceptable limits. With this definition in mind the weldability of experimental low-nickel duplex stainless steels containing chromium, manganese and nitrogen were assessed. This assessment was based on the corrosion and mechanical properties of these alloys which were manual metal arc welded and plasma arc welded using a range of heat inputs. The results of these tests showed that the wrought and spun cast alloys are readily weldablility for the range of heat inputs considered. As a comparison to the welding charactristics of the high nitrogen alloys, a commercially available high carbon containing spun cast duplex stainless steel, MP36, alloy was used as a reference material. This alloy proved invaluable in that, not only was it possible to show that this alloy faked poorly in comparison with the high nitrogen containing alloys, but the effect of nitrogen as an interstitial element in welded stainless steels could be compared with that of carbon. The results of the latter evaluations showed that nitrogen, unlike carbon, does not have a detrimental effect on the corrosion or mechanical properties of these alloys, provided it is kept below the solubility limit of 'the stainless steel. The appearance of the microstructures of the high nitrogen containing alloys and the reference alloy in the solution annealed condition, were maintained after welding, with no rampant ferrite phase growth or extensive precipitation in the heat affected zone for the range of {Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version} / MT2017

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Electromechanical Engineering

"Case hardening, a process which includes a wide variety of techniques, is used to improve the wear resistance, by diffusing carbon (carburization), nitrogen (nitriding) and/or boron (boriding) into the outer layer of the steel at high temperature, and then heat treating the surface layer to the desired hardness without affecting the softer, tough interior of the part. In this research, a nitrogen-hydrocarbon gas mixture was used as the process atmosphere for carburizing steels. It can offer a cost and part quality alternative to the conventional endothermic atmosphere and vacuum processes. It can hold the promise for matching the quality of work parts processed in vacuum furnace, i.e. eliminating the intergranular oxidation which normally occurs in the endogas atmosphere. The process control of nitrogen-hydrocarbon atmosphere is also investigated in the research. Modified shim stock method is used to measure the carbon pickup and constant carbon flux modeling tool is used afterwards to predict the carbon profile. With minimum modification, commercially available equipment or sensors can be used to monitor non-equilibrium process atmosphere. Gas nitriding was also studied. For nitriding, the kinetics of the nitriding process with hydrocarbon gases addition and electric arc discharge activation of the nitrogen diluted ammonia atmosphere were investigated. Prior to and during the nitriding, hydrocarbon gases were reacted with metal surface and removed oxidation layers, which can accelerate nitriding process. Overall, nitriding with this unique gas mixture provides an alternative to a long-hour pure ammonia nitriding with more efficient energy utilization. The main objective of this project is to develop the conventional, atmospheric-pressure, low-cost surface hardening treatments for the case hardening of carbon, alloy and stainless steel. The possibility of plasma activation of atmosphere and metal surface to shorten processing time and save energy and time is investigated in this research. The process atmosphere is safer, more efficient, less toxic and less flammable. "

No description available.

Passivation, local anodic depassivation and pitting corrosion of stainless steels in bulk and under thin phase layers of acid sulphate and neutral chloride solutions have been studied. A number of electrochemical, chemical, metallographic and physical techniques were employed in this study. The choice of stainless steels, test solutions and methods of investigations was based on scientific expediency and practical availability. For the first time in electrochemical and corrosion characteristics of passivation, local anodic depassivation and pitting corrosion of stainless steels were obtained in thin layers and compared with those in bulk electrolytes. It was demonstrated that the thickness of the electrolyte layer can influence the passivation process and, under certain conditions, the kinetics of pitting erosion. Several tests were conducted and results given. It was shown that the prognosis of corrosion behaviour of some stainless steels in sulphur dioxide contaminated atmosphere based on electrochemical measurements in bulk electrolytes can be erroneous. The same measurements carried out in thin phase layers enable more accurate prediction. However, the prognosis of the relative resistance of the stainless steels to pitting corrosion in the clean chloride-containing atmosphere may be based on conventional electrochemical measurements in the bulk of corresponding electrolytes / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to supplement the scant previous investigations on the corrosion behaviour of 2205 and 2507 duplex stainless steels in selected organic acids containing chloride additions. Design/methodology/approach – Microstructural examination of the alloys was first carried out, after which the corrosion behaviour of the alloys in citric, oxalic, formic and acetic acids containing chloride additions at varying temperatures was studied using electrochemical techniques. Findings – The alloy 2507 material had a larger grain size than did the alloy 2205 sample. The corrosion resistances of the alloys generally are highest in acetic acids and lowest in citric acid. The addition of chloride had a pronounced effect on their corrosion resistance. Alloy 2507 generally exhibited higher corrosion resistance in all of the acids than alloy 2205, with the exception of acetic acid at room temperature. The 50:50 ratio of ferrite to austenite composition, as revealed by phase compositional analysis, indicated no significant possibility for galvanic corrosion between the phases. This suggests that the corrosion behaviour of the alloys is controlled by their grain sizes and chemical compositions. Originality/value – Although the corrosion behaviour of duplex stainless steels in some organic acid media has been reported, this investigation covers the major organic acids not previously reported. Since in real industrial systems a mixture of both organic and minerals acids/salts may typically exist, investigations of the combined effect of chloride ions with the organic acids reported in this paper typify real industrial operations. The paper thus provides a basis for material selection for the application of 2205 and 2507 in industrial systems where organic acids are mostly used.

No description available.

The title of this research suggests the importance of manufacturing variables and their influence on the behavior of super duplex stainless steel (SDSS) alloy when exposed to corrosive aqueous environments. Studies show that SDSS alloys have many applications due to their good physical, mechanical and corrosion resistance properties. However, there are a number of cases of in-service failures of SDSS alloys, such as pitting corrosion, stress corrosion cracking and environmentally assisted cracking failures. The root cause of these failures was due to the impact of one or more manufacturing variables such as surface finish, microstructure defects or deficiencies after deformation. From this concept, a detailed study into the effect of manufacturing variables on the corrosion resistance of a UNS S39274 super duplex stainless steel has been carried out. The manufacturing variables studied are as follows: Effect of surface condition; The corrosion resistance of stainless steel components is very sensitive to the final surface condition. The effect of surface condition on the corrosion resistance was investigated by measuring the critical pitting temperature (CPT) and the pitting potential (Epit) of in-service UNS S39274 super duplex stainless steel tubular sections with three different surface roughness values of Ra =2.8, 3.2 and 3.5m. Experimental results confirmed that the surface roughness parameter Ra is a useful parameter as a general and basic guideline of surface texture but it’s not sufficient on its own to predict the likely effect of surface roughness on the in-service corrosion behaviour of SDSS materials. The manufacturer of super duplex stainless steel products should include the electrochemical corrosion evaluation such as the CPT or Epit values beside the surface roughness average value Ra and PRENs in SDSS alloy assessment. Effect of microstructure; The thermo-mechanical handling of super duplex stainless steels is an important factor in their performance. This is due to the complex nature of the material which is highly alloyed with Cr, Ni, Mo, and N. Exposure to certain temperature ranges leads to undesired secondary phases formation. The presence of intermetallic phases has been found to be harmful to super duplex stainless steel properties. A study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of thermal exposure of a solution annealed UNS S39274 super duplex stainless steel to temperatures of 850C, 1000ºC and 1300ºC on its microstructure and its localised corrosion resistance. Heat treatment at 850ºC and 1000C caused formation of intermetallics such as sigma () and chi () while at 1300C caused precipitation of secondary austenite and enlarged grains and percentage of ferrite was observed. The formation of intermetallics of sigma () and chi () had a drastic effect on the corrosion resistance of the super duplex stainless steel. Electrochemical measurements confirmed that the intermetallics affected the corrosion resistance by reducing the pitting potential by around 80% in the active direction. Evaluation of the corrosion morphology using SEM revealed depletion at the ferrite/austenite interfaces created intergranular corrosion path with preferential attack of the ferrite phase. The present results confirmed that PRENs is not suitable for corrosion assessment of SDSS after exposure to intermetallic temperature ranges. Effect of cold work; Cold work introduces metallurgical changes like dislocations and deformation bands which affect the corrosion resistance of stainless steel components. Cold work is still a complicated phenomenon for ferritic/austenitic alloys such SDSS. The effect of cold work (0%, 4%, 8%, 12% and 16% plastic strain) on the pitting corrosion behaviour of UNS S39274 SDSS was evaluated. The Ferrite phase of the material exhibits greater degrees of plastic deformation under straining providing a greater number of initiation sites than the austenite phase. The hydrogen embrittelement of the cold worked specimens was investigated after 48 hours cathodic charging in 0.1M H2SO4. Experimental results indicated that the increase in cold work caused reduction in mechanical properties such as elongation and strain to failure. The depth of embrittlement increased as the degree of cold work increased and revealed brittle surfaces of cleavage fracture mode. Manufacturer and users should consider the degree of plastic strain when cold worked SDSS components going to work in corrosive environments or hydrogen containing environments. The main conclusion of the work is that the interactions between corrosive environments and SDSS components containing one or more of the manufacturing variables evaluated must be considered if reductions in in-service life are to be avoided.

No description available.