Nitrogen Solubility in Alloy Systems Relevant to Stainless Steels

High-performance stainless steels are alloyed with nitrogen for several different reasons. For the austenitic grades, the kinetics of deleterious phase transformations are delayed, the strength is increased, and the corrosion resistance is improved. For duplex steels, the weldability and corrosion resistance depend directly on their nitrogen contents. Reliable databases are crucial for the development of new stainless steels and their processing. In order to calibrate the existing thermodynamic data, a series of experiments was undertaken. Several laboratory alloys in Fe–Cr–X systems, where X = Ni, Mn, Cu, were reacted with nitrogen gas at nitrogen activities 0.5 and 1 in the temperature range from 1050 °C to 1350 °C and subsequently analyzed for nitrogen solubility and phase constitution. A novel, simplified experimental technique was used, providing a dew point that is low enough to allow for fast nitrogen transport through the specimen surface, ensuring equilibrium conditions. The results are compared to thermodynamic equilibrium calculations.