Cold Deformation and Hardness on Superaustenitic Stainless Steel: Evaluation Methods

Superaustenitic stainless steel with high nickel percentage, chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen, has replaced austenitic AISI 304 and 316, mainly in the petrochemical industries, where high toughness, stress corrosion resistance and pitting resistance is suitable. Due to high mechanical stress in the cold deformation manufacturing, residual stresses in the pipes are common. In this case, the possibility of the corrosion process increases. Considering the area reduction after tensile tests, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of cold deformation on a superaustenitic steel BS EN 10283 N^o 14587. The steel was elaborated in an electric induction furnace and the liquid metal was poured out in sand molds. Afterward, samples cut from a specimen submitted to the tensile test were prepared for X-ray diffraction, Vickers hardness measurements, linear polarization and impedance electrochemical tests. The corrosion tests were performed in solution with 3.5% NaCl. The results show that there is a linear increase in hardness and also a decrease in corrosion resistance of the material, with increasing cold deformation. In addition, the cold work reduction was not sufficient to promote strain-induced martensite.

Keywords:
superaustenitic stainless steel; cold deformation; corrosion