Characterization of the High-temperature Isothermal Aging in USC Ferritic Steel Using Reversible Permeability

The high-temperature isothermal aging is studied in ultra-supercritical steel, which is attractive to the next generation of power plants. The effects of microstructure on reversible permeability are discussed. Isothermal aging was observed to coarsen the tempered carbide (), generate the intermetallic () phase and grow rapidly during aging. The dislocation density also decreases steeply within lath interior. The dynamic coercivity, measured from the peak position of the reversible permeability profile decreased drastically during the initial 500 h aging period, and was thereafter observed to decrease only slightly. The variation in dynamic coercivity is closely related to the decrease in the number of pinning sites, such as dislocations, fine precipitates and the martensite lath.