Comparative study of the recrystallization of two oxide dispersion strengthened reduced activation (9%Cr and 13%Cr) steels

Author(s)

Reny Angela Renzetti

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Lorena.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL/ASDI)
• Defense date: 2011-07-29

Examining board members

Hugo Ricardo Zschommler Sandim; Luiz Henrique de Almeida; Miguel Justino Ribeiro Barboza; Paulo Atsushi Suzuki

• Advisor: Hugo Ricardo Zschommler Sandim

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in the development of new, sustainable, clean and safe sources of energy. In view of these requirements, the development of advanced materials for future nuclear fusion reactors becomes essential. This work investigates the annealing behavior and the microstructural stability of two oxide dispersion strengthened steels with 9%Cr and 13%Cr ODS steels. These materials are potential candidates for structural applications in future fusion reactors. The two ODS steels were cold rolled to 80% thickness reduction. Samples were annealed in vacuum at temperatures of about 0.9 Tm, where Tm is the melting point. The microstructural characterization was performed by Vickers hardness testing, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) performed by a highresolution SEM. Important temperatures related to the phase transformations were determined with aid of dilatometry and differential thermal analysis (DTA). Magnetization curves as a function of applied magnetic fields up to 15 kOe were obtained for 9%Cr ODSEurofer. X-ray diffraction experiments were also performed on 9%Cr steel to evaluate the dislocation density in several metallurgical conditions. Results show that microstructural coarsening becomes significant when annealing is performed above 0.8 Tm. Below 800°C, static recovery is the main softening mechanism of these steels and the volume fraction of recrystallized grains is quite low. The resistance of these steels to recrystallization can be explained by the strong interaction between boundaries and mobile dislocations with fine particles of Y-based oxides. Contrastingly, coarse M23C6 particles act as preferential nucleation sites through the well-known particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) mechanism. Samples annealed above 800oC (austenitic phase field) display larger dislocation densities in the 9%Cr ODS steel. Results concerning to 13%Cr steel suggest the occurrence of martensitic transformation. (AU)