Effect of long-term thermal aging on magnetic hysteresis for low-alloy pressure vessel steel

Abstract

Long-term thermal aging experiments have been performed at 290 and 550°C up to ∼ 10000 h for low-alloy pressure vessel steels with low and high Ni contents, in order to elucidate effects of thermal embrittlement on a structure-sensitive property of minor B-H loops. While a minor-loop property obtained from a power-law scaling of minor-loop parameters exhibits a small but steady increase after aging at 290°C, that exhibits a decreasing trend after aging at 550°C. The observations suggest that the evolution of nanometer precipitates plays a crucial role for a magnetic property change at 290°C, while relaxation of lattice strain in a matrix associated with precipitation may dominate at 550°C.