Effect of alloying elements on the Mechanical property of Austenitic Stainless Steel

Austenitic stainless steel must be one of essential structural materials in a nuclear power plant due to high strength, ductility, toughness, and corrosion resistance. In particular, the integrity of austenitic stainless steel pipe is so important in the nuclear energy system that it should be processed for a specific operational purpose. Most of the austenitic stainless steel could be developed by the addition of alloying elements contributing to mechanical properties significantly. However, there are still a lot of the unidentified mechanism about alloying elements leading to change of mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steel. Since the higher precipitation of MnS and the incoherent interface between the MC+MnS complex/ the γ matrix which acts as an active sink of free sulfur segregating to grain boundaries, the formation of MnS could be attributed to the longer time to intergranular failure with sulfur segregation.