Phase Stress Measurement of Centrifugally Cast Duplex Stainless Steel by Neutron Diffraction

Residual stress can be easily generated during material processing and affect the performance of structural components. Phase stress distribution in austenitic-ferritic duplex stainless steels (DSSs) is complicated due to the different material properties between the two phases. In this study, residual phase stress distribution along the thickness direction of centrifugally cast DSS hollow cylinder was measured by pulsed neutron diffraction with the time-of-flight (TOF) method. The triaxial phase stress distribution along the thickness direction shows that the phase stress of austenitic phase is generally in tension and higher than that of ferrite phase. From the outer surface to the inner surface, the macro-stress distributes from -400 MPa to 200 MPa. The mechanism of macro-stress formation was deduced by taking into consideration the thermal shrinkage behavior during the cooling process of water quench after the solution heat treatment. Furthermore, the lattice strain and phase stress evolution under the uniaxial tensile loading was evaluated by in-situ neutron diffraction measurement. The results indicated that the magnitude of phase stress could be affected by plastic working as well. All these measurements were conducted at Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC).