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Abstract The present review elaborately discusses the Physical Metallurgy of Low Nickel Austenitic Stainless Steels.
Costlier nickel is replaced by cheaper manganese and nitrogen. Yield and tensile strengths of high-nitrogen alloys can
exceed those of conventional AISI 200 and 300 series stainless steels by 200-350% without any sacrificial loss in
toughness. A sufficiently high content of austenite-forming elements such as nickel, nitrogen, carbon and copper are
required in the steel to allow the desired austenite structure to form at annealing temperatures, and to persist to room
temperature. In most austenitic stainless steels, the austenite structure is not stable at room temperature, and tends to
transform to martensite when the steel is cold worked; the amount of transformation to martensite upon heavy cold
working should be limited to 10% or less, to avoid excessive wear or cracking of cold-working tools such as dies.
Index Terms Nickel austenitic stainless steel, tensile strength, yield strength, ductility, austenite, martensite.
1 INTRODUCTION
there are other varities of LNiASS grades have been developed 2.3 Effect of Alloy Addition Mn and Ni
in last two decades where the nickel content was minimized The substitution of Ni by Mn and N is an interesting
upto 0.1 wt% [4-7]. proposition, both from an economical as well as an
engineering point of view. Although Mn can be regarded as an
austenite stabilizer, the addition of Mn alone is not sufficient to
stabilize the austenite phase at room temperature, especially in
2.2 Why Low Nickel Effect of Cost
the presence of Cr which is a strong ferrite stabilizer. The
The cost of the common stainless steels is substantially addition of Mn, nevertheless, is effective in increasing the
determined by the cost of ingredients. The cost of the solubility of N in the liquid steel and the fraction of austenite
chromium that is the essential "stainless ingredient" is not formed during solidification. N is a strong austenite stabilizer
high, but additions of elements that improve the corrosion and solid solution strengthener that also has a positive effect
resistance (especially molybdenum) or that modify the on the pitting corrosion resistance. Unlike traditional stainless
fabrication properties (especially nickel) add very much to the steels, Mn and N alloyed low stacking fault energy steels
cost. Costs for nickel have fluctuated from US$5,000 or exhibit a clear ductile-to-brittle transition in impact toughness
US$6,000 in 2001 to US$15,000 per tonne in 2004. Similarly, below room temperature. Substitutional elements which
molybdenum has dramatically increased from approximately stabilize the ferrite structure (W, Mo, V, Si and Cr) have a mild
US$8,000 per tonne in 2001 to around US$50,000 per tonne in positive effect on the yield stress, while austenite stabilizing
2004. These costs impact directly on the two most common elements (Cu, Ni, Co and Mn) have little, or in the case of Ni, a
grades: 304 (18%Cr, 8%Ni) and 316 (17%Cr, 10%Ni, 2%Mo). negative effect on the yield stress of the austenite phase.
The impact is most keenly felt in grade 316, which has suffered Interstitial elements (N, C and B) increase the strength of
an increase to its cost premium above 304. Other grades such austenitic stainless steels more significantly than solid solution
as the duplex 2205 (22%Cr, 5%Ni, 3%Mo) and all more highly elements, and N has the greatest effect [3, 8-11].
alloyed stainless steels are also affected.
excessive mill loading. In some cases their inherently low hot- retaining rings are required to have high YSs (> 1000 MPa),
ductility may lead to edge cracking and other defects. There adequate ductility, high strain hardening potential, low
are many factors that can affect the hot ductility of steels, such magnetic permeability, and favorable stress-corrosion and
as: (i) temperature, strain rate, (ii) composition, (iii) grain size, pitting resistance. The high strength required for the end rings
precipitates, (iv) non-metallic inclusions, and (v) prior thermal is generally achieved by cold forming, which can accelerate
and mechanical treatments. Grain refinement increases the carbide nitride precipitation. Thus, it is necessary to use a
rate of recrystallization and decreases the recrystallized grain material with the lowest susceptibility to precipitation as
size [20]. This applies to static recrystallization between rolling possible [19].
passes and to dynamic recrystallization at the high strains.
Carbides and nitrides taken into solution at soaking
REFERENCES
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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 8, Issue 4, April-2017
ISSN 2229-5518
IJSER 2017
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