The effect of microstructure on creep and the change in microstructure during elevated temperature exposure is critical to understanding the improvements in steel production over the years.
Considerable work is being done in power plants to investigate and try to understand the phenomena that creep occurs by dislocation glide and climb, rather than by bulk diffusion.
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Creep Microstructural Changes in Power Plant Steels: Part One
Interest in improving the microstructure in power plant steels stems from the 1970’s where there was a considerable drive to improve and increase the ability of the stream circuit to handle higher pressures and higher temperatures.
Some key work in uncovered the possibility to remarkably improve the stress rupture strength by the addition or increase of some key inclusions such as vanadium, niobium and tungsten to name but a few.
Copper Beryllium Alloys
The addition of beryllium in copper alloy materials gives a substantial increase in strength without resulting in brittle behavior.
Due to these improved properties, beryllium alloys are used widely in the aviation industries in components which require high strength and a high tolerance to wear.