Influence of heat treatments on microstructure and pitting corrosion resistance of 15%Cr supermartensitic stainless steel

Abstract

Supermartensitic is a new class of stainless steels in development and consolidation as commercial products. Significant changes on chemical composition of conventional martensitic stainless steels, such as the reduction of the carbon content to <0·03 wt-%, and the addition of Ni and Mo, marked the development of this new group of alloys. New grades containing higher amounts of Cr and small additions of Ti and/or Nb were developed recently. As a result, supermartensitic steels offer an interesting combination of high strength, toughness, weldability and corrosion resistance. In this work, the pitting corrosion resistance of a 15Cr supermartensitic steel with Ni, Mo and Cu additions was studied. It is well known that the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of martensitic steels are adjusted by the final tempering treatment. Several single tempering treatments in the 300–650°C range and double tempering treatments were performed in order to obtain different microstructures. The pitting corrosion resistance was investigated by electrochemical test in 3·5%NaCl solution. It was found that the pitting potential slightly decreased with the increase in temperature and time of tempering. The analysis of pits formed during the corrosion tests showed that ferrite islands are more corrosion resistant than the martensitic matrix due to the higher Cr and Mo contents.