Abstract
Electricity in many countries such as the US and China is produced by burning fossil fuels in steam-turbine-driven power plants. The efficiency of these power plants can be improved by increasing the operating temperature of the steam generator. In this work, we adopted a combined surface science and computational thermodynamics approach to the design of high-temperature, corrosion-resistant steels for this application. The result is a low-carbon ferritic steel with nanosized transition metal monocarbide precipitates that are thermally stable, as verified by atom probe tomography. High-temperature Vickers hardness measurements demonstrated that these steels maintain their strength for extended periods at 700 °C. We hypothesize that the improved strength of these steels is derived from the semi-coherent interfaces of these thermally stable, nanosized precipitates exerting drag forces on impinging dislocations, thus maintaining strength at elevated temperatures.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 196-200 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Surface Science |
Volume | 648 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Atom probe tomography
- CALPHAD
- Ferritic steels
- Surface engineering
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Surfaces and Interfaces
- Surfaces, Coatings and Films
- Materials Chemistry