Formation of Chromium Nitride and Intragranular Austenite in a Super Duplex Stainless Steel

Abstract

Precipitation of chromium nitrides and formation of intragranular austenite were studied in detail for the super duplex stainless steel grade 2507 (UNS S32750). The situation of multipass welding was simulated by heat treatment at 1623 K (1350 °C) and quenching followed by short heat treatments at 1173 K (900 °C). The microstructural evolution was characterized using transmission and scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter, and transmission Kikuchi diffraction, and it was observed that the interior of the ferrite grains contained chromium nitrides after quenching. The nitrides were predominantly of CrN with a cubic halite-type structure and clusters of CrN-Cr2N where rod-shaped trigonal Cr2N particles had nucleated on plates of CrN. After heat treatment for 10 seconds at 1173 K (900 °C), the nitride morphology was transformed into predominantly rod-shaped Cr2N, and finely dispersed intragranular secondary austenite idiomorphs had formed in the nitride-containing areas within the ferrite grains. After 60 seconds of heat treatment, both the Cr2N nitrides and the secondary austenite were coarsened. Analysis of electron diffraction data revealed an inherited crystallographic relationship between the metastable CrN and the intragranular austenite. The mechanism of chromium nitride formation and its relation to secondary austenite formation in duplex stainless steels are discussed.