High strength medium carbon austenitic stainless steels have been developed through partial and total replacement of nickel by nitrogen. Stainless steels containing 0.4% carbon with different combinations of nickel and nitrogen were produced in 10kg induction furnace under different nitrogen pressures. The produced stainless steels were cast and hot forged and the total nitrogen was determined. Furthermore, the produced forged steels were subjected to either only solution treatment or solution treatment followed by ageing process.
Nonmetallic inclusions such as carbides and nitrides were separated by electrolytic dissolution. Nitrogen as nitrides was determined and soluble nitrogen was calculated. XRD technique was used to investigate the types of nonmetallic inclusions. The microstructure of produced stainless steels was observed and the grain size was measured. The tensile properties at room temperature were determined. The influence of grain size, total nitrogen, insoluble and soluble nitrogen on tensile strength was investigated. All produced stainless steels as-quenched were aged at temperatures range from 450°C to 950°C for different times. Hardness test was carried out for aged stainless steels and the optimum ageing conditions were determined.
After solution treatment of the investigated stainless steels at 1050°C, a great portion of alloy carbides and nitrides is observed to be taken into solution. Nitrogen in solid solution increases both yield and tensile strengths. At optimum ageing temperature, this portion in solution precipitates, mainly as Cr2N, was causing higher precipitation strengthening. The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the aged stainless steels were found to increase at average rates of 706 MPa/1 mass % nitrogen and 723 MPa/1 mass % nitrogen, respectively. On the other hand, the increase of nitrogen content deteriorates the steel ductility.
