• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.628-634
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• 2011

SA508 Gr.4N Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel, in which Ni and Cr contents are higher than in commercial SA508 Gr.3 Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steels, may be a candidate reactor pressure vessel (RPV) material with higher strength and toughness from its tempered martensitic microstructure. The inner surface of the RPV is weld-cladded with stainless steels to prevent corrosion. The goal of this study is to evaluate the microstructural properties of the clad interface between Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel and stainless weldment, and the effects of post weld heat treatment (PWHT) on the properties. The properties of the clad interface were compared with those of commercial Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel. Multi-layer welding of model alloys with ER308L and ER309L stainless steel by the SAW method was performed, and then PWHT was conducted at $610^{\circ}C$ for 30 h. The microstructural changes of the clad interface were analyzed using OM, SEM and TEM, and micro-Vickers hardness tests were performed. Before PWHT, the heat affected zone (HAZ) showed higher hardness than base and weld metals due to formation of martensite after welding in both steels. In addition, the hardness of the HAZ in Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel was higher than that in Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel due to a comparatively high martensite fraction. The hardness of the HAZ decreased after PWHT in both steels, but the dark region was formed near the fusion line in which the hardness was locally high. In the case of Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel, formation of fine Cr-carbides in the weld region near the fusion line by diffusion of C from the base metal resulted in locally high hardness in the dark region. However, the precipitates of the region in the Ni-Cr-Mo low alloy steel were similar to that in the base metal, and the hardness in the region was not greatly different from that in the base metal.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.9
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• pp.533-541
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• 2009

Materials used for a reactor pressure vessel(RPV) are required high strength and toughness, which determine the safety margin and life of a reactor. Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel shows better mechanical properties than existing RPV steels due to higher Ni and Cr contents compared to the existing RPV steels. The present study focuses on effects of Ni, Cr contents on the cleavage fracture toughness of Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steels in the transition temperature region. The fracture toughness was characterized by a 3-point bend test of precracked Charpy V-notch(PCVN) specimens based on ASTM E1921-08. The test results indicated that the fracture toughness was considerably improved with an increase of Ni and Cr contents. Especially, control of Cr content was more effective in improving fracture toughness than manipulating Ni content, though Charpy impact toughness was changed more extensively by adjusting Ni content. These differences between changes in the fracture toughness and that in the impact toughness were derived from microstructural features, such as martensite lath size and carbide precipitation behavior.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.122-132
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• 2010

Higher strength and fracture toughness of reactor pressure vessel steels can be obtained by changing the material specification from that of Mn-Mo-Ni low alloy steel (SA508 Gr.3) to Ni-Mo-Cr low alloy steel (SA508 Gr.4N). However, the operation temperature of the reactor pressure vessel is more than $300^{\circ}C$ and the reactor operates for over 40 years. Therefore, we need to have phase stability in the high temperature range in order to apply the SA508 Gr.4N low alloy steel for a reactor pressure vessel. It is very important to evaluate the temper embrittlement phenomena of SA508 Gr.4N for an RPV application. In this study, we have performed a Charpy impact test and tensile test of SA508 Gr.4N low alloy steel with changing impurity element contents such as Mn and P. And also, the mechanical properties of these low alloy steels after longterm heat treatment ($450^{\circ}C$, 2000hr) are evaluated. Further, evaluation of the temper embrittlement by fracture analysis was carried out. Temper embrittlement occurs in KL4-Ref and KL4-P, which show a decrease of the elongation and a shifting of the transition curve toward high temperature. The reason for the temper embrittlement is the grain boundary segregation of the impurity element P and the alloying element Ni. However, KL4-Ref shows temper embrittlement phenomena despite the same contents of P and Ni compared with SC-KL4. This result may be caused by the Mn contents. In addition, the behavior of embrittlement is not largely affected by the formation of $M_3P$ phosphide or the coarsening of Cr carbides.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2020

Phosphorus is an element that plays many important roles in powder metallurgy as an alloy element. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of phosphorus addition on the microstructures and mechanical properties of sintered low-alloy steel. The sintered low-alloy steels Fe-0.6%C-3.89%Ni-1.95%Cu-1.40%Mo-xP (x=0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20%) were manufactured by compacting at 700 MPa, sintering in H₂-N₂ at 1260 ℃, rapid cooling, and low-temperature tempering in Ar at 160 ℃. The microstructure, pore, density, hardness, and transverse rupture strength (TRS) of the sintered low-alloy steels were evaluated. The hardness increased as the phosphorus content increased, whereas the density and TRS showed maximum values when the content of P was 0.05%. Based on microstructure observation, the phase of the microstructure changed from bainite to martensite as the content of phosphorus is increased. Hence, the most appropriate addition of phosphorus in this study was 0.05%.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.31-34
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• 2015

Microstructure and tensile property in the weld heat-affected zone (HAZ) of austenitic Fe-Mn-Al-C low density steels were investigated through transmission electron microscopy analysis and tensile tests. The HAZ samples were prepared using Gleeble simulation with high heat input welding condition of 300 kJ/cm, and the HAZ peak temperature of $1200^{\circ}C$ was determined from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test. The strain- stress responses of base steels showed that the addition of V improved the tensile and yield strength by grain refinement and precipitation strengthening. Tensile strength and elongation decreased in the weld HAZ as compared to the base steel, due to grain growth, while V-added steel had a higher HAZ strength as compared than V-free steel.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1420-1427
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• 2002

The Monkman-Grant (M-G) and its modified parameters were evaluated for type 316LN and modified 9Cr-Mo stainless steels prepared with minor element variations. Several sets of creep data for the two alloy systems were obtained by constant-load creep tests in 550～650$\^{C}$ temperature range. The M-G parameters, m, m', C, and C' were proposed and discussed for the two alloy systems. The m value of the M-C relation was 0.90 in type 316LN steel and 0.84 in modified 9Cr-Mo steel. The m' value of the modified relation was 0.94 in type 316LN steel and 0.89 in 9Cr-Mo steel. Although creep fracture modes and creep properties between type 316LN and modified 9Cr-Mo steels showed a basic difference, the M-G and its modified relations demonstrated linearity quite well. The m' of modified relation almost overlapped regardless of the creep testing conditions and chemical variations in the two alloy systems, and the parameter m' was closer to unity than that of the M-G relation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.327-337
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• 1999

A series of Ni-Cr-Mo alloy steels were austenitized, quenched to martensite, and tempered at various temperature and time conditions. Tensile testing was conducted at room temperature with cylindrical specimens, and hardness was measured using Rockwell hardness tester. In the tempering stage I, high strain hardening and yield strength accounted for the high ultimate strength and hardness. In the tempering stage II, strengths and hardness linearly decreased with increasing tempering temperature. Specimens tempered in the temperin stage III showed incipient discontinuous yielding and tensile strengths only slightly higher than yield strengths. Ductilities decreased slightly in specimens tempered in the tempered martensite embrittlement range, and severely decreased in specimens tempered for 10 hours at $500^{\circ}C$ in the temper embrittlement range. Specimens tempered at $600^{\circ}C$ for 10 hours showed recrystallized microstructures, a number of fine dimples, and increased strain hardening, probably due to the precipitation of alloy carbides. The simple formulae for the mechanical properties of these steels were suggested as a function of carbon content and Hollomon-Jaffe tempering parameter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1995.11a
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• pp.9-9
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• 1995

MATERIAL AND PROCESS VARIABLES THAT STRONGLY AFFECT THE CORROSION RESISTANCE OF PA4 STAINLESS STEELS, INCLUDE : ALLOY COMPOSITION, POWDER CLEANLINESS, NITROGEN, OXYGEN AND GARBON CONTENTS, CHROMIUM DEPLETION DUE TO SURFACE EVAPORATION AND SINTERED DENSITY. THE OPTIMUM PROCESS PARAMETERS FOR DELUBRICATION AND SINTERING THAT RESULT IN LOWEST LEVELS OF NITROGEN, OXYGEN AND CARBON AND MINIMUM LEVELS OF CHROMIUM DEPLETION WILL BE PRESENTED, FOR A NUMBER OF AUSTENTIC AND FERRITIC STAINLESS STEELS. THE EFFECT OF SINTERED DENSITY ON THE CORROSION RESISTANCE OF BOTH AUSTENITIC AND FERRITIC GRADES OF STAINLESS STEEL WILL ALSO BE COVERED.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.164-169
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• 2007

Hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) was studied phenomenologically and the effect of microstructure on HIC was discussed for the steels having two different levels of nonmetallic inclusions. Steels having different microstructures were produced by thermomechanically controlled processes (TMCP) from two different heats which had the different level of nonmetallic inclusions. Ferrite/pearlite (F/P), ferrite/acicular ferrite (F/AF), ferrite/bainite (F/B) were three representative microstructures for all tested steels. For the steels with higher level of inclusions, permissible inclusion level for HIC not to develop was different according to steelmicrostructure. On the contrary, HIC occurred also at the martensite/austenite (M/A) constituents regardless of steel microstructure when they accumulated to a certain degree. It was proved that M/A constituents were easily embrittled by hydrogen atoms. Steels having F/AF is resistant to HIC at a given actual service condition since they covers a wide range of diffusible hydrogen content without developing HIC.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.388-393
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• 2002

Heat-treatment-free steels have been replacing for conventional quenched-and-tempered structural steels since the microalloyed forging steel was developed in early 1970s in Germany. Substantial cost reduction provides the driving force for this change. As a result of intensive R & D efforts and application trials, various kinds of grades, for example heat-treatment-free steels for hot forging, machining and cold heading, have been developed and moreover these steels are in tonnage production throughout the world. The developments in alloy steels, processing conditions and structure-property characteristics of the heat-treatment-free steels, are described and also recent trend and future prospect are summarized in this report.