INFLUENCE OF SILICON AND NITROGEN ON THE THERMAL STABILITY OF CHROMIUM-MANGANESE STEEL ECONOMICALLY ALLOYED WITH NICKEL.

Steels smelted in a high-frequency furnace in an argon atmosphere are investigated. The initial alloy is taken to be alloy 1, with a two-phase structure ( alpha plus gamma ) to which additions of silicon (alloy 2) and then nitrogen (alloy 3) are made. The thermal stability is determined from the increase in mass of forged samples after oxidation in air at 1000 degree C for 8 and 100 hr, while the phase composition of the skin and the metal is determined by an X-ray diffraction method. The distribution of the alloy components in the skin remaining on the samples over the depth of the subskin layer and in the adjacent layer of alloy is investigated using a Cameca MS-48 microanalyzer, and the distribution of carbon is determined by a spectral layer with layer-by-layer removal of metal from the sample. Silicon and nitrogen increase the thermal stability of chromium-manganese steel economically alloyed with nickel.