SANS study on the stability of oxide nanoparticles in long-term thermally aged 9Cr-ODS steel

Abstract

Abstract A 9Cr-oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel was thermally aged at 873 K for up to 5000 hours. The size distribution and chemical composition of the dispersed oxide nanoparticles were analyzed by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) method under magnetic field. Combined with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Vickers micro-hardness tests and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) measurements, all the results showed that the thermal treatment had little or no effect on the size distributions and volume fractions of the oxide nanoparticles in the ferromagnetic matrix, which suggested excellent thermal stability of the 9Cr-ODS steel.