Abstract
The effects of chemical composition and heat treatment on the creep properties of ASME Grade 91 type steel were experimentally investigated using materials whose chemical compositions and heat treatment conditions in the steel making process were completely controlled. Regarding chemical composition, only the Al, Cr, and Ni contents were systematically varied while keeping the contents of the other elements and heat treatment conditions constant. Regarding heat treatment, the normalizing and tempering temperatures were varied while keeping the contents of chemical components constant. The creep tests of materials were performed for approximately up to 50,000 h at 650°C. The creep strength of Grade 91 type steel decreased with increasing Al content under the test conditions of short-term to long-term range. On the other hand, the effect of Cr content on the creep life of Grade 91 type steel depended on the stress or time range, and the creep strength of the steel decreased at high Cr contents under test conditions of only the longterm range. No effect of Ni content on the creep life of the materials was observed in the test data obtained in this study. As creep tests are currently being conducted at 625°C and 60 MPa, which are conditions closer to the actual service conditions of main steam piping at ultra-super critical power plants, the creep deformation data at present indicate that the above trends hold true in the long-term range. Regarding the effect of heat treatment, the creep life of the materials tended to increase with increasing normalizing temperature or decreasing tempering temperature. The results obtained in this work indicate that within the scope of the material standards for Grade 91 type steel, the effect of chemical composition on creep life is greater than that of heat treatment.
