Effect of Precipitation on Cryogenic Toughness in N-Containing Austenitic Stainless Steels

Abstract

Three types of austenitic stainless steels JK2, JJ1 and JN1 were isothermally aged at temperatures from 600 to 900°C for 10 to 1000 minutes in order to study the microstructural evolution and its effect on the fracture toughness at cryogenic temperatures. The Charpy V-Notch fracture energy at 77 K showed a significant decrease with aging time in JJ1 and JN1 steels because of their higher contents of C and N. In contrast, the fracture energy corresponding to the aged JK2 steel decreased gradually with aging time. The abundant intergranular precipitation of carbides and nitrides seems to be the responsible for the fracture toughness deterioration in the aged JJ1 and JN1 steels. On the other hand, the intergranular precipitation of carbides was less abundant in the aged JK2 steel. The scanning electron microscope fractographs of the CVN test specimens corresponding to the aged JJ1 and JN1 steels showed mainly an intergranular brittle fracture and its fraction increased with aging time and temperature. In general, the presence of a more abundant intergranular precipitation resulted in a more rapid decrease in toughness with aging time.