CREEP OF AUSTENITIC 20 PERCENT CR/35 PERCENT NI STAINLESS STEELS AT LOW STRESSES

The present work comprises measurements of the secondary creep-rate at different stress levels with rates between about 2×10-5 %/h and 10%/h and the grain-boundary sliding at 700° C in two austenitic 20 wt % Cr/35 wt % Ni stainless steels. One alloy was a pure 20 wt % Cr/35 wt % Ni steel, whereas the other contained about 0.5 wt % Ti and 0.5 wt % Al so that it precipitated γ′ during creep at 700° C. Special care was taken to assure equivalent microstructure in the specimens and precise creep conditions so as to obtain accurate and reproducible creep-rates. Both materials exhibited decreasing stress-dependence of the creep-rate at low stresses. Neither the stress-dependence of the creep-rate, nor the absolute creep-rate was consistent with diffusion-creep. The amount of grain-boundary sliding was measured separately by means of scribed grid lines on the creep specimens for the pure material at stresses above the creep yield". The values for the component of the creep-rate due to grain-boundary sliding coincide very well with the extrapolated line of the low-stress branch of the creep-rate/stress curve. All these results taken together suggest that the most likely explanation of the creep yield in 20 wt % Cr/35 wt % Ni steels is the one based upon grain-boundary sliding. © 1969 Chapman and Hall."