Abstract
AbstractIn this research work, the stainless steel (SS) used for the fabrication of under-water parts in hydro-power plants was cryo-treated at different ultra-low temperatures, i.e. −80 ℃ and −196 ℃. The influence of such cryo-treatments on the silt erosion performance of SS-316L was investigated by conducting silt erosion tests on a self-fabricated jet model silt erosion trial apparatus. The tests were regulated for distinct operating parameters at two levels. It was found that the cryogenic treatments significantly affect the silt erosion performance of stainless steel samples. Scanning-electron-microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy (OM) tests were done to examine the microstructural changes resulted after cryo-treatments. SEM results endorse the existence of residual austenite in the untreated steel. However, this residual aust. disappears after such cryo-treatments. XRD diffraction techniques were also used to investigate the various phase changes caused by low-temperature treatments. It was concluded that the samples, cryogenically treated at −196 ℃ exhibits the highest resistance against silt erosion followed by the one treated at −80 ℃. The untreated samples of SS-316L showed the least resistance against silt erosion. This upgradation in wear strength of cryogenically processed samples was further related to the metallurgical changes observed after cryogenic treatment.KeywordsSilt erosionShallow-cryogenic-treatment (SCT)Deep-cryogenic-treatment (DCT)Aust. (aust.)Mart. (mart.)Stainless steel (SS)Impact velocity (IV)Impingement angle (IA)Stand-off distance (SOD)Scanning-electron-microscopy (SEM)X-ray-diffraction (XRD)Optical microscopy (OM)
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