Sigma Phase in Superduplex Stainless Steel: Formation, Kinetics and Microstructural Path

The superduplex stainless steels (SDSS) are widely used in chemical, oil and gas industries, to pipelines and storage material facilities. In welding process or working in temperature elevated, secondary phases may appear in the form of precipitates, as the sigma phase (σ) which is an intermetallic compound. This compound is harmful to the properties of steel, deteriorating its mechanical properties, such as decreasing corrosion resistance and toughness. In this paper it is analyzed the formation, kinetics and microstructural evolution of sigma phase in SDSS UNS S32750 after isothermal aging at 700ºC, 750ºC and 800ºC. In this work sigma phase kinetics is studied by JMAK theory and by two microstructural path descriptors, SV, interfacial area per unit of volume between sigma phase and austenite, and <λ>, mean chord length of sigma, both in function of the VV, volumetric fraction of sigma, known in the literature as microstructural partial path (MP). The MP formulation is common in recrystallization studies, but so far has not been used in the sigma phase precipitation studies, being applied here for the first time. The results indicated that the sigma phase nucleates by site saturation with anisotropic linear impingement. This means that sigma phase nucleates on edges.