Structure Formation in High-Nitrogen Steel during Heat Treatment

Abstract

Steel 06Cr18Mn19Mo2N (P900N + Mo) was chosen to study the phase composition and structural transformations occurring in high-nitrogen nickel-free austenitic steels as a result of heat treatments to which they are exposed during production or operation. The methods of light and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and dilatometric analysis were used in the work. The heat treatment scheme included hot plastic deformation, quenching and aging over a wide temperature range. It is shown that after the hot plastic deformation and quenching from 1050-1150 °С, and also after quenching with subsequent aging at 300 and 500 °С, the structure consists of austenite and isostructural matrix of nanoscale nitrides CrN. Thermal aging of steel at 700-750 °C causes the formation of Mo2N nitrides along the grain boundaries, and at 800 °C the decomposition of austenite is accompanied by a discontinuous reaction γγdepleted + σ with the formation of the χ-phase at prolonged exposures.