Characterization of the microstructure of dual-phase 9Cr-ODS steels using a laser-assisted 3D atom probe

Abstract Dual-phase 9Cr-ODS (oxide dispersion-strengthened) steel consisting of residual-α ferrite and α′ martensite has excellent high-temperature strength. This study describes the microstructure of dual-phase 9Cr-ODS steels characterized by atom-probe tomography in order to compare oxide-particle dispersion states in each phase. This revealed that nano-size oxide particles were of the same chemical composition and that their mean size was about 3 nm in each phase. On the other hand, the number density in the residual-α phase was about four times higher than that of the α′ phase. These results indicate that the dense distribution of the oxide particles in the residual-α phase contribute to the excellent high-temperature strength of 9Cr-ODS steel.