Composition of type 347 austenitic stainless steel was modified with the addition of boron and cerium. An improvement of creep strength coupled with creep ductility of the steel was observed with boron and cerium additions. The observation of enhanced precipitation of carbonitrides in boron-containing steel over that of boron-free steel may in part contribute to the increase in creep strength. Both grain boundary sliding and nucleation and growth of intergranular creep cavities were found to be suppressed in steel-containing boron. This results in an increase in creep strength and creep ductility. Auger electron spectroscopic analysis of the chemistry of creep cavity surfaces (exposed by breaking the creepexposed steel specimen at liquid nitrogen temperature under impact loading) revealed the segregation of elemental boron on the creep cavity surface. Boron segregation, on the creep cavity surface in the absence of sulfur contamination, suppressed the cavity growth and provided the steel with a self-healing effect for creep cavitation. Cerium additions enabled boron to segregate on the cavity surface by effectively removing the traces of free sulfur in the matrix by the formation of ceriumoxysulfide (Ce 2 O 2 S).
In this study, the precipitation of boron nitride (BN) on creep cavity surfaces during creep and its beneficial effect on the creep rupture properties are reported for a type 304 austenitic stainless steel. In the conventional 304 stainless steel, the trace of soluble S segregates strongly on the creep cavity surfaces and promotes its growth during creep. In the modified 304 stainless steel added with B, Ce, and Ti, the trace of soluble S is removed effectively by the formation of Ce and Ti sulfides, and the segregation of S on the creep cavity surface is replaced by the precipitation of the BN compound. As BN is very stable at high temperatures, its precipitation on the cavity surface is expected to suppress the creep cavity growth rate. It is suggested that the precipitation of BN on the creep cavity surface provides austenitic stainless steel with the function of self-healing for creep cavitation with an associated increase in the creep rupture strength and ductility.
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