Current and Future Applications of High Nitrogen Steels

Abstract

For any new development there are just two gateways into the market: either it does relevant things never done before - in this case the market is ready to pay a considerable price. Or it does the usual things, but at a very competitive price. And of course, there is any combination of these two prerequisites. With nitrogen steels both concepts apply. On one hand there is the idea of substitution, i.e. replacing the expensive nickel by nitrogen. On the other hand there is a production of steels with an unprecedented combination of usually conflicting properties such as superior strength, toughness and corrosion resistance, as represented by the austenitie Cr-Mn-steel P900, which is used for retaining rings. In a way, success of a material and its usages, which become feasible, can be explained by looking at two things: Property potential of a new material and process technology for the production of such material. HNS steels are already indispensable in some fields and we can be sure that they will grow to further importance in the near future. This contribution just makes a little round trip through the field of HNS leads from the technology of large scale generators to the world of fashion, from high tech building and wear resistant aircraft bearings and finally even to the world of medicine.