Influence of Thermal Treatment on the Caustic SCC of Super Austenitic Stainless Steel

Abstract

In general, thermal treatment at 500oC ~ 900oC ranges depending upon alloy composition of stainless steels can sensitize the steels and promote the intergranular cracking, and their intergranular corrosion resistance is decreased. These behaviors seem to be related to the change of microstructures. So, heat treatment at that temperature range should be avoided in fabrication, especially welding of stainless steels. In this work, it is focused on the effect of thermal treatment on caustic stress corrosion cracking of super austenitic stainless steel - S32050 The low temperature thermal treatment increased greatly the resistance to caustic SCC than those of annealed specimen. This enhancement might be closely related to the reduction of residual stress and slightly large grain, but its resistance was not affected by the anodic polarization behavior.