Steels/alloys are widely used in various aspects of human society, such as transportation and construction, machinery manufacturing, oil, chemical, petrochemical, marine, and nuclear power industries, etc

The pitting corrosion of three duplex steels (DSS), SAF2205, SAF2507, Z3CN20.09M thermally aged at 350 - 500 ℃ for 5500 h was investigated by the means of electrochemical techniques. The pitting potential (Ep) of thermally aged Z3CN20.09M specimens decreased with increasing of ageing temperature, however, the Ep of SAF2205 and SAF2507 thermally aged specimens decreased first and reached the lowest value at 450 ℃ and then increased slightly. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results are coincident with the potentiodynamic polarisation testing results. The variation in the charge transfer resistance of specimens coincided with the Ep values. There is little influence of low temperature (below 350 ℃) on resistance to pitting of SAF2205 and SAF2507 DSS. But, the pitting resistance of them degrades drastically ageing at higher temperature above 450 ℃. The deterioration in pitting resistance of thermally aged DSS specimens mainly attributes to the precipitation of Cr-rich α′ phases which affected by temperature markedly. At the range of 350 -500 ℃, the temperature the higher, the precipitation of Cr-rich α′ phases the more. The formation of G phases and the healing process during the long thermal ageing at 500 ℃ is the other reasons for the change in pitting resistance.

The effect of sigma phases on the moderate-temperature tensile properties of Z3CN20.09M casting austenite stainless steel was investigated by means of isothermal treatment, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, instrumented nanoindentation, tensile testing, and finite element simulation. The results show that the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of aged specimens tensile tested at moderate temperature increase remarkably with an increasing sigma phase, while the elongation at break decreased. The strain-hardening rate of aged specimens with sigma phases is higher than that of unaged specimens without sigma phases at a certain low-strain range. However, the value of the strain-hardening rate of aged specimens is lower than that of unaged specimens when the strain exceeds a certain value. The effect of the sigma phase on the tensile properties at moderate temperature is also more significant. This can be attributed to the many high-energy σ/γ₂ and α/σ/γ₂ incoherent phase boundaries caused by the precipitation of sigma phases. On the one hand, these boundaries hinder the movement of dislocations and subsequently accumulate dislocations to some extent, so strength is enhanced and the strain-hardening rate is improved. On the other hand, microcracks at these interfaces initiate and propagate more easily when the strain exceeds a certain value. Thus, the elongation value and the strain-hardening rate decrease.