Effect of Si and Mn additions on ferrite and austenite phase fractions in 25Cr-7Ni-1.5Mo-3W base super duplex stainless steels

The effect of heat treatment and Si and Mn additions on the ferrite and austenite phase fractions of the super duplex stainless steel (SDSS), Fe-25Cr-7Ni-1.5Mo-3W-Si-Mn-0.25N (numbers are all in wt.% unless specified otherwise), was investigated. The thermodynamic calculations of phase equilibria and phase fractions were performed using the Thermo-Calc program. Based on the calculated results, specific compositions of Si and Mn were selected and alloys with these compositions were analysed by Feritscope, X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy. The calculated phase fractions and experimentally analysed ones were compared and there was a good agreement between calculations and measurements. The optimum heat treatment condition for Fe-25Cr-7Ni-1.5Mo-3W-0.5Si-0.5Mn-0.25N is to hold at 1050 to 1100 C for 2 h in considering the ferrite to austenite ratio of 50:50 and to avoid second phase precipitation such as the σ phase. It was suggested that an excessive addition of more than 0.8Si and 1.0Mn may induce the σ phase precipitation. (orig.)