On the material characteristics of a high carbon cast austenitic stainless steel after solution annealing followed by quenching in a CNT nanofluid

Abstract

AbstractSolution annealing followed by quenching in carbon nanotubes (QCNT) nanofluid treatment was applied to generate very high interstitial carbon content,≈0.30 wt.%, in an austenitic stainless steel (ASS). The high interstitial carbon content leads to remarkable improvement in mechanical properties with essentially no loss of ductility, with no chromium carbides and/or martensite formation. To evaluate the localized corrosion tendency and passivity behavior, 3.5 wt.% NaCl and borate buffer solutions were used, respectively. Based on the electrochemical corrosion results, both high carbon and low carbon (0.030 wt.%) QCNT-treated ASS alloys show comparable passivity and localized corrosion performance. In addition, Mott–Schottky plots revealed that the anodic films on QCNT-treated samples exhibit similar semiconducting characters.