Advances In The Technology Of Stainless Steels And Related Alloys

This book focuses on various facets of stainless steel, including processing, component design, properties, fabrication, and applications. It covers a broad spectrum of topics spanning the entire life cycle of stainless steel, from alloy design and characterization to engineering design, fabrication, mechanical properties, corrosion, quality assurance of components, in-service performance assessment, and life prediction and failure analysis of materials and components. Exploring contemporary developments in stainless steels, the text discusses component design, modeling and structural integrity, manufacturing technology, property evaluation, alloy development and applications, nondestructive evaluation methods, and corrosion and surface modification.

Research and development in the field of high-strength stainless steels appears to be directed along two principal paths: (1) the development of alloys with improved strength properties and (2) the accumulation of information on the properties and physical metallurgy of existing alloys so that they may be used more effectively. By and large, the development of new alloys is being carried out by the stainless-steel producers, while the accumulation of property data for the most part is being undertaken on Government contracts. (Author).

Materials science is the magic that allows us to change the chemical composition and microstructure of material to regulate its corrosion-mechanical, technological, and functional properties. Five major classes of stainless steels are widely used: ferritic, austenitic, martensitic, duplex, and precipitation hardening. Austenitic stainless steels are extensively used for service down to as low as the temperature of liquid helium (-269oC). This is largely due to the lack of a clearly defined transition from ductile to brittle fracture in impact toughness testing. Steels with ferritic or martensitic structures show a sudden change from ductile (safe) to brittle (unsafe) fracture over a small temperature difference. Even the best of these steels shows this behavior at temperatures higher than -100oC and in many cases only just below zero. Various types of stainless steel are used across the whole temperature range from ambient to 1100oC. This book will be useful to scientists, engineers, masters, graduate students, and students. I hope readers will enjoy this book and that it will serve to create new materials with unique properties.