Improvement in the Mechanical Properties of Different Cooling Medium-treated 56Fe25Ni16Cr Austenitic Stainless Steel for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Applications

Parikin  Farihin; Bambang  Suharno; Mohammad  Dani; I Wayan  Ngarayana; Andryansyah; Ferhat  Aziz; Mardiyanto  Panitra; Rai Indra  Wardana; Damar Rastri  Adhika; Ching An  Huang

doi:10.6180/jase.202506_28(6).0020

Improvement in the Mechanical Properties of Different Cooling Medium-treated 56Fe25Ni16Cr Austenitic Stainless Steel for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Applications

Parikin Farihin^1,2This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Bambang Suharno¹, Mohammad Dani², I Wayan Ngarayana², Andryansyah², Ferhat Aziz², Mardiyanto Panitra², Rai Indra Wardana³, Damar Rastri Adhika⁴, and Ching An Huang⁵

¹Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Indonesia, Depok 16424, West Java Indonesia

²Research Center for Nuclear Reactor Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency, Serpong Banten, Indonesia

³Ceramic Creative Industry Technology Center, National Research and Innovation Agency, Jl. TPA Suwung, Sanur Kauh, Denpasar Selatan, Kota Denpasar, Bali 80361 Indonesia

⁴Research Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology, Bandung Institute of Technology, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, West Java 40132, Indonesia

⁵Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 33302 Taiwan

Received: December 9, 2023
Accepted: August 25, 2024
Publication Date: September 25, 2024

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202506_28(6).0020

This study investigates the mechanical characteristics of 56 Fe 16 Cr 25 Ni austenitic stainless steel (ASS) that were annealed/quenched with air, water, and oil cooling media. Hardness (Vickers test), tensile (ASTM E8M-04), and Charpy impact (ASTM E23-05) tests were conducted to assess the influence of cooling media. The steel is annealed at 850◦C for 30 minutes, followed by quenching in different cooling media through the normalized air, oil and water. Microstructural analysis shows γ-austenite dendritic matrix and eutectic structure containing carbide particles. Post-annealing, a clear dendritic structure was observed compared to the normalized specimens. When ASS was quenched in air, oil, or water, its hardness increased by approximately 4%, 18%, and 14%, respectively. As the change of the cooling medium from air to water and oil, the yield strength and impact energy decrease by 59% to 33%, and 7% to 12%, respectively. However, the primary appealing force remains consistent across all media. Optical and electron microscopy were used to provide additional microstructural information, such as grain structure, precipitates, and stacking defects. This study shows that the 56 Fe 16 Cr 25 Ni ASS outperforms conventional nuclear reactor structural steels at elevated temperatures.

Keywords: 56Fe16Cr25Ni austenitic stainless steel; cooling medium; mechanical properties; microstructures

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