Effect of temperature and nitrogen content on the partitioning of alloy elements in duplex stainless steels

The partitioning of the alloy elements chromium, nickel, and molybdenum that occurs in conventional duplex stainless steels has been measured for various nitrogen contents and annealing temperatures. The experimental results have been combined with data available in the literature, and the behavior is summarized by use of a statistically derived empirical model. An increase in the nitrogen content significantly decreases the degree of chromium partitioning but has a lesser effect on nickel and molybdenum. However, the partitioning of nickel can be significantly reduced by an increase in the annealing temperature. The usual measures of partitioning were found to be unsuitable for statistical analysis; and an alternative measure of the degree of partitioning is proposed.