Effect of Cu on the Precipitation of Deleterious Phases and the Mechanical Properties of 27Cr–7Ni Hyper Duplex Stainless Steels

Abstract

Cu addition to the base alloy reduces the total amount of deleterious phases such as chromium nitride and sigma and chi phases. In particular, Cu addition to the base alloy results in pronounced suppression of the amount of sigma phase whereas it slightly facilitates the precipitation of chromium nitride and chi phase along the phase boundaries and within ferrite grains. During the initial stage of aging, the preferential precipitation of chromium nitride and chi phase seems to be closely associated with the retardation of the precipitation of the sigma phase. The preferential precipitation of chromium nitride and the chi phase inhibits the nucleation and growth of the sigma phase by depleting the Cr adjacent to the chromium nitride particles and depleting the Mo and W adjacent to the chi phase. Thus, the addition of Cu to the base alloy reduces its embrittlement owing to the delayed precipitation of these deleterious phases.