Microstructure and corrosion characteristics of HANA 6 alloy with various manufacturing processes

In order to obtain the best manufacturing process for the HANA 6 alloy, the various evaluations such as a corrosion test at 400 .deg. C steam condition, a microstructural analysis by using TEM, and texture analysis by using XRD were performed for the HANA 6 alloy with various manufacturing processes. This alloy was manufactured as sheets by applying 4 types of manufacturing processes which were controlled by a combination of the intermediate annealing temperature and reduction ratio, as well as two types of final annealing conditions which were applied to the HANA 6 alloy from TREX samples. The corrosion resistance of the HANA 6 alloy with various manufacturing processes was increased with a decreasing intermediate annealing temperature and the corrosion resistance of that alloy was decreased by increasing the final annealing temperature after a corrosion test up to 240 days. The precipitate of the HANA 6 alloy mainly consisted of Nb-containing precipitates in all the samples, but the size, distribution and Nb concentration of the precipitates was affected by the applied manufacturing processes. The Nb concentration in the precipitates was increased when the samples were annealed at 570.deg.C during the intermediate annealing processes. So, the corrosion rate of the HANA 6 alloy is affected considerably by a control of the intermediate and final annealing conditions which affect the precipitate characteristics in the matrix. The crystallographic texture of the HANA 6 alloy with various manufacturing processes is similar since the total reduction ratio was the same in all the manufactured sheet samples