Effect of continuous cooling on secondary phase precipitation in the super duplex stainless steel ZERON-100

The precipitation of secondary phases in super duplex stainless steels (SDSS) is a subject of great relevance owing to their dangerous effects on both mechanical and corrosion-resistance properties. This paper examines the effect of continuous cooling after solution annealing treatment on secondary phase precipitation in the ZERON-100 SDSS. It considers the influence of cooling rate on volume fraction, morphology and chemical composition. It has been found that the formation of sigma and chi phases can be avoided only at cooling rates higher than 0.7 C/s. In addition, at the lowest cooling rate the sigma phase amount approaches the equilibrium value, but the chi phase amount remains significantly low. © 2013 ASM International.