Lean duplex stainless steels (LDSS) with superior mechanical and

corrosion properties
P. Saravanan, S. Srikanth, Bhawna Khalkho, Vinod Kumar and Santosh kumar

R & D Centre for Iron and Steel, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Ranchi-834002, India
Email: sarvan@sail-rdcis.com

ABSTRACT

Low-Ni and Ni-free varieties of duplex stainless steels (DSSs) have been successfully
developed for the first time on laboratory scale in SAIL. The alloy compositions for Ni-free
and low-Ni (<1.5 wt%) DSSs were evolved through formulation of appropriate chromium
and nickel equivalents to achieve an optimum phase balance of 55 vol% austenite and 45
vol% ferrite in stainless steel microstructures. Laboratory heats were made achieving target
chemistries and cast into 100 mm square cross-sectioned ingots. The ingots were
subsequently soaked at 1150 oC for 3 hrs for thermal/ compositional homogenization and hot
rolled in number of passes to 6 and 16 mm strips in Hillé experimental rolling mill with finish
rolling temperatures of 950-980 oC. The hot rolled strips were eventually conferred solution
annealing treatment by soaking them at 1060 oC for 2 hours followed by rapid quenching in
water to prevent precipitation of deleterious intermetallic compounds (IMCs) and secondary
phases.
The new steels revealed an exceptional combination of properties: higher yield strength (488
MPa for low-Ni DSS and 501 MPa for Ni-free DSS), higher tensile strength (664 MPa for
low-Ni DSS and 677 MPa for Ni-free DSS) and superior Charpy V-notch impact toughness
(230 and 129 Joules at room temperature and -20oC, respectively, for low-Ni DSS as against
80 and 52 Joules at similar temperatures for Ni-free DSS). The yield strength of the steels
was assessed to be about 1.6-1.8 times that of conventional austenitic grades AISI 304 L and
AISI 316 L in annealed condition. The low-Ni and Ni-free DSS showed remarkable corrosion
resistance and have been found to exhibit passivity, corrosion rates as low as 0.08-0.11 mpy,
pitting potentials in the range of 482-596 mV and charge transfer resistances of the order of
106 Ω.cm2 in highly corrosive environment of 3.5% NaCl. The steels have been thus found to
be superior in pitting/ localized corrosion resistance to AISI 304 L with pitting potential of
437 mV and comparable in performance with AISI 316 L with its high pitting potential of
602 mV. Even in the strongly reducing environment of 0.1 N H2SO4, the new steels have
revealed tendency to passive film formation, breakdown potentials of 1127-1153 mV and
passive film impedances of 104 Ω.cm2, comparable to the standard austenitic grades AISI 304
L and AISI 316 L.
The degree of sensitization (DoS) for both low Ni and Ni-free DSSs has been quantified to be
≤ 0.05 in 0.5 M H2SO4 + 0.01 M KSCN, which has revealed their insusceptibility to
intergranular corrosion (IGC). The steels have been found to be free from deleterious
intermetallic phases such as sigma (σ), chi (χ), etc. and this has been ascertained from
corrosion rates of <10 mdd in ferric chloride corrosion testing as per ASTM A923 Method C.
These low-cost, lean-alloyed (in terms of Ni content) duplex stainless steels are promising
materials and will find application in corrosion-prone offshore oil platforms, oil/ gas
refineries, paper & pulp industries, chemical/ petrochemical processing units, and over-sea
bridge construction in form of utility piping and tubing as well as structural plates and sheets.
The high strength of these steels will allow for reduced wall thickness of piping and reduced
weight of structures in chloride-infested corrosion-intensive industries, as cheaper
replacements for AISI 304 L and AISI 316 L austenitic grades.

KEYWORDS: lean duplex stainless steels, mechanical properties, pitting corrosion, stress
corrosion, intergranular corrosion