Effect of heat treatment on carbides in 23-8-N steel

Metal carbides play an important role in deciding the end properties and ultimately the suitability of the austenitic stainless steels for various applications. Austenitic stainless steels, being nonhardenable via phase transformation, are subject to solution annealing to ensure maximum dissolution of carbides and hence maximum corrosion resistance and ductility. The solution annealing temperature has to be decided judiciously as a rise in temperature leads to more and more dissolution of carbides and causes simultaneous grain coarsening. In this paper, a systematic study is presented followed by the effect of heat treatment on the carbides present in 23-8-N nitrogen-bearing austenitic stainless steel.