Effects of heat treatment on precipitation and corrosion resistance of cerium-containing super austenitic stainless steel S31254

The influence of a combined process, involving air cooling and heat treatment at 300 degrees C, on precipitation behavior and corrosion resistance of a S31254-Ce steel was explored through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and electrochemical analysis. After air cooling and heat treatment at 300 degrees C, the S31254-Ce steel was conducive to the enrichment of Ce along the grain boundary and the content of Sigma 3 twins in aged samples increased. The composite heat treatment process is beneficial to inhibit the precipitation of precipitates in the aging process and improve the corrosion resistance of S31254-Ce steel. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )