Anomalous steam oxidation behavior of a creep resistant martensitic 9 wt. % Cr steel

The efficiency of thermal power plants is currently limited by the long-term creep strength and the steam oxidation resistance of the commercially available ferritic/martensitic steel grades. Higher operating pressures and temperatures are essential to increase efficiency but impose important requirements on the materials, from both the mechanical and chemical stability perspective. It has been shown that in general, a Cr wt. % higher than 9 is required for acceptable oxidation rates at 650 °C, but on the other hand such high Cr content is detrimental to the creep strength. Surprisingly, preliminary studies of an experimental 9 wt. % Cr martensitic steel, exhibited very low oxidation rates under flowing steam at 650 °C for exposure times exceeding 20,000 h. A metallographic investigation at different time intervals has been carried out. Moreover, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) analysis of a ground sample exposed to steam for 10,000 h at 650 °C revealed the formation of a complex tri-layered protective oxide comprising a top and bottom Fe and Cr rich spinel layer with a magnetite intermediate layer on top of a very fine grained zone.