Carbon or nitrogen alloyed quenched and tempered stainless steels a comparative study

Some conventional stainless quenched and tempered steel grades were modified by substituting nitrogen for carbon and by variing the contents of chromium, molybdenum and nickel. Results of a comparative study of carbon and nitrogen steels are presented in a wide range of tempering temperatures. In nickelmartensitic steels nickel can be partially substituted by nitrogen without harming the properties. Due to their finer microstructure nitrogen steels with 15-17 %Cr, 2 %Ni and 0.2 %N, at the same strength level, offer higher toughness and better corrosion resistance than the respective conventional steel X20 CrNi 17 2.