Investigation of Creep Processes and Microdamages in 10Kh9V2MFBR-Sh High-Chromium Steel

During the modernization and the new construction of power units at TPPs in Russia, high-chromium martensitic steels with higher heat-resistant properties than the traditional perlite steels are increasingly used as structural materials. High-chromium steels have a necessary regulatory support for their use in domestic power engineering. However, up to the present time, the issue of assessing the quality of these steels at the analysis of their state during long-term operation remains open. The article proposed is one of the first attempts to create a system of quality criteria for martensitic steels based on their microdamage parameters. Tests were carried out on the long-term strength and creep of samples from 10Kh9V2MFBR-Sh steel at high temperatures with the construction of creep curves in relative coordinates “deformation related to the deformation of fracture, current time related to time to failure.” For some samples, the tests were interrupted and the metal was subjected to metallographic studies consisting of the analysis of microdamage with reference to the accumulated creep strain. It has been shown experimentally that the deformation curve of high-chromium steel differs from the analogous curve of pearlitic steel by a longer and flat section of steady creep and by a sharper transition to the third accelerated creep stage, which has a very short time period (approximately 10% of the total durability). The tendency to the increase in the microdamage of the structure of steel as the accumulated creep strain increases with time was confirmed. The beginning of transition to the final creep phase is characterized by the formation of contours of future pore chains and by the appearance of individual large pores of up to 6 μm in size, the presence of which in the microstructure of the martensitic steel indicates a very significant accumulation of creep strain, and corresponds to the predestruction stage of metal. It is necessary to continue the research to obtain quantitative indicators on the accumulation of microdamage in high-chromium steel in a conjunction with the development of a metal resource under creep conditions.