• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.311-322
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• 2013

High-Cr martensitic steel HT-9 is one of the candidate materials for advanced nuclear energy systems. Thanks to its excellent thermal conductivity and irradiation resistance, ferritic/martensitic steels such as HT-9 are considered for in-core applications of advanced nuclear reactors. The harsh neutron irradiation environments at the reactor core region pose a unique challenge for structural and cladding materials. Microstructural and microchemical changes resulting from displacement damage are anticipated for structural materials after prolonged neutron exposure. Consequently, various irradiation effects on the service performance of in-core materials need to be understood. In this work, the fundamentals of radiation damage and irradiation effects of the HT-9 martensitic steel are reviewed. The objective of this paper is to provide a background introduction of displacement damage, microstructural evolution, and subsequent effects on mechanical properties of the HT-9 martensitic steel under neutron irradiations. Mechanical test results of the irradiated HT-9 steel obtained from previous fast reactor and fusion programs are summarized along with the information of irradiated microstructure. This review can serve as a starting point for additional investigations on the in-core applications of ferritic/martensitic steels in advanced nuclear reactors.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.179-184
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• 2021

Two types of secondary hardening martensitic steels, 10Co-14Ni and 6Co-5Ni, were produced by vacuum induction melting to investigate the effect of ausforming process on mechanical properties. According to the results of present study, the alloy samples ausformed at low temperature indicated a rather low hardness level in overall aging time despite the refinement of martensite lath width. As the result can closely be related with the presence of primary carbides precipitated within the initial austenite matrix, we confirmed that, in ultrahigh strength secondary hardening martensitic alloy steels, the ausforming process can rather limit the degree of secondary hardening during the subsequent aging treatment.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.242-248
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• 2018

Martensitic high-strength steels revealed superior mechanical properties of high tensile strength exceeding 1000 Mpa, and have been applied in a variety of industries. When the steels are exposed to corrosive environments, however, they are susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement (HE), resulting in catastrophic cracking failure. To improve resistance to HE, it is crucial to obtain significant insight into the exact physical nature associated with hydrogen diffusion behavior in the steel. For martensitic steels, tempering condition should be adjusted carefully to improve toughness. The tempering process involves microstructural modifications, that provide changes in hydrogen diffusion/trapping behavior in the steels. From this perspective, this study examined the relationship between tempering condition and hydrogen diffusion behavior in the steels. Results based on glycerin measurements and hydrogen permeation evaluations indicated that hydrogen diffusion/trapping behavior was strongly affected by the characteristics of precipitates, as well as by metallurgical defects such as dislocation. Tempering condition should be adjusted properly by considering required mechanical properties and resistance to HE.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.183-186
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• 2016

In this study, we report on an investigation of proton radiation resistance of 410 martensitic stainless steels under 3 MeV proton with the doses ranging from $1.0{\times}10^{15}$ to $1.0{\times}10^{17}p/cm^2$ at the temperature 623 K. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were used to study the variation of magnetic properties and structural damages by virtue of proton irradiation, respectively. VSM and XRD analysis revealed that the 410 martensitic stainless steels showed proton radiation resistance up to $10^{17}p/cm^2$. Proton energy degradation and flux attenuations in 410 stainless steels as a function of penetration depth were calculated by using Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) code. It suggested that the 410 stainless steels have the radiation resistance up to $5.2{\times}10^{-3}$ dpa which corresponds to neutron irradiation of $3.5{\times}10^{18}n/cm^2$. These results could be used to predict the maintenance period of SUS410 stainless steels in fission power plants.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.752-756
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• 2002

Variable weld bead penetrations related to the base metal chemistry of stainless steels in GTA welding have been under constant investigations due to their industrial implications. It has been proposed that among other elements, the sulfur content of steels determines the weld pool geometry, particularly its penetration. It is suggested that the surface tension temperature gradient of steels becomes positive with appropriate dosing in sulfur and results in inward melt flow, propitious for deeper welds. However, the chemistry of industrial steels is complex due to the presence of multiple minor elements either deliberately added or remnant impurity traces. With this in view, investigations on 41 austenitic and nine martensitic stainless steels were carried to see if there existed any possible relation between the weld profile and some of the designated elements. The results suggest no direct correlation between sulfur or any other major or trace element and weld penetration. At first glance the results are contradictory to what is often asserted.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.643-651
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• 2017

Four types of high Mn TWIP(Twinning Induced Plasticity) steels were fabricated by varying the Mn and Al content, and the tensile properties were measured at various strain rates and temperatures. An examination of the tensile properties at room temperature revealed an increase in strength with increasing strain rate because mobile dislocations interacted rapidly with the dislocations in localized regions, whereas elongation and the number of serrations decreased. The strength decreased with increasing temperature, whereas the elongation increased. A martensitic transformation occurred in the 18Mn, 22Mn and 18Mn1.6Al steels tested at $-196^{\circ}C$ due to a decrease in the stacking fault energies with decreasing temperature. An examination of the tensile properties at $-196^{\circ}C$ showed that the strength of the non-Al added high Mn TWIP steels was high, whereas the elongation was low because of the martensitic transformation and brittle fracture mode. Although a martensitic transformation did not occur in the 18Mn1.9Al steel, the strength increased with decreasing temperature because many twins formed in the early stages of the tensile test and interacted rapidly with the dislocations.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.298-306
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• 2009

Gas nitriding and post oxidation were performed on stainless steels and SACM 645 steel. With increasing gas nitriding time, the increasing rate of nitrided layer was most rapid on SACM 645 steel and the nitriding depth of nitrided layer was most narrow on STS 304 steel among three steels. Corrosion resistance was increased with post oxidation on stainless steels and with increasing time the effect of corrosion resistance was decreased to compare with relatively short gas nitriding time. An improvement effect of corrosion resistance was consisted of predominantly on austenitic stainless steel by post oxidation after gas nitriding among three steels and it was relatively less influenced on martensitic stainless steel.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2009

It was evaluated that the microstructural and mechanical properties of Ta-bearing 9Cr-0.5Mo-2W ferritic/martensitic experimental steels. All the experimental steels showed the tempered martensitic microstructures, and $M_{23}C_6$ carbides, whose sizes were ranged from 200 to 300 nm, were easily observed at both boundaries of the prior austenite grain and the martensite lath. In addition, a relatively large Nb-rich MX carbonitrides were intermittently detected at the prior austenite grain boundaries, whereas a lot of Vrich MX carbonitrides, whose mean diameter was less than 50 nm, were observed randomly at both boundaries. Ta was mainly incorporated into the V-rich MX carbonitrides rather than the Nb-rich ones and their content was spanned from 5 to 20 at.%. Ta contents within the MX precipitates also increased as the content of Ta increased. Because the Ta addition into the steels would be attributed to the precipitation strengthening, solid solution strengthening and lath width reduction, it was shown that the mechanical properties, including hardness, tensile strength and creep rate of the 9%Cr-0.5Mo-2W steels were improved by the increase of Ta content. Especially, 9Cr-0.5Mo-2W-0.3V-0.05Nb-0.14Ta steel was revealed to be relatively excellent in the application for the SFR fuel cladding.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.466-473
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• 2022

The effect of Cr and Mo contents on the hydrogen embrittlement of tempered martensitic steels was investigated in this study. After the steels with different Cr and Mo contents were austenitized at 820 ℃ for 90 min, they were tempered at 630 ℃ for 120 min. The steels were composed of fully tempered martensite with a lath-type microstructure, but the characteristics of the carbides were dependent on the Cr and Mo contents. As the Cr and Mo contents increased, the volume fraction of film-like cementite and prior austenite grain size decreased. After hydrogen was introduced into tensile specimens by electrochemical charging, a slow strain-rate test (SSRT) was conducted to investigate hydrogen embrittlement behavior. The SSRT results revealed that the steel with lower Cr or lower Mo content showed relatively poor hydrogen embrittlement resistance. The hydrogen embrittlement resistance of the tempered martensitic steels increased with increasing Mo content, because the reduction in the film-like cementite and prior austenite grain size plays an important role in improving hydrogen embrittlement resistance. The results indicate that controlling the Cr and Mo contents is essential to achieving a tempered martensitic steel with a combination of high strength and excellent hydrogen embrittlement resistance.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.1748-1751
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• 2017

Reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steels are widely applied as structural materials in the nuclear industry. To investigate hydrogen's effect on RAFM steels' elastic properties and the mechanism of that effect, a procedure of first principles simulation combined with experiment was designed. Density functional theory models were established to simulate RAFM steels' elastic status before and after hydrogen's insertion. Also, experiment was designed to measure the Young's modulus of RAFM steel samples with and without hydrogen charging. Both simulation and experiment showed that the solubility of hydrogen in RAFM steels would decrease the Young's modulus. The effect of hydrogen on RAFM steels' Young's modulus was more significant in water-quenched steels than it was in tempering steels. This indicated that defects inside martensite, considered to be hydrogen traps, could decrease the cohesive energy of the matrix and lead to a decrease of the Young's modulus after hydrogen insertion.