Mechanical alloying of high nitrogen stainless steel powders with metal nitrides and nitrogen-containing ferroalloy as a nitrogen source

Abstract

16Cr - 2Ni - Mn - Mo - xN (wt%) stainless steel powders were synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) of elemental powders, metal nitride (MeN) powders and nitrogen-containing ferroalloy (FeMeN) powders at argon atmosphere. The microstructural and phase evolution of the powders at different times of alloying and microstructure were studied. The X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that chemical homogeneity improves with increasing alloying time and decreasing nitrides powder content. The phase composition changes during the MA up to 30 ks processing time showed dissolving of alloying elements and formation of α-phase solid solution for the sample with low nitrogen contents. Samples with high nitrogen contents have a nitrides inclusion, which partially dissolves with increasing processing time.