CONTENTS 1. Effect of alloying elements in steel 1.1, Effect of alloying elements upon transformation kinetics 1.2. Effect of alloying elements upon the critical cooling rate. 1.3. Effect of alloying elements upon the TTT conditions. 1.4, Effect of alloying elements upon the material properties. 1.5. Classification of steels according to structural configuration 4.5.1. General 1.5.2. The Binary system FeCr and FeNi 1.5.3. The Ternary system Fe-Ni-Cr 1.5.4. Multiple component systems 2, Effect of the alloying elements upon welding. 2.1. Influence of individual alloying elements. 2.2. Possibilities for evaluation of the influences upon non- and low-alloy steels 2.3. Possibilities for evaluation of influence upon high-alloyed steels. 3. Weathering, rust- and corrosion resisting steels 3.4. General and types of corrosion 3.2. Weather resistant steels 3.3. Stainless steels 3.4. Thermal treatment of ferritic, martensitic and austenitic steels 4, Standards material data ancl welding technologie of stainless steels 215-1218-2 1. EFFECT OF THE ALLOYING ELEMENTS IN STEEL A number of properties of an alloy may be determined by the chemical composition, such as’ Structural form when cast, heat treatability, weldability, temperature or corrosion resistance, tensile strength and deformability, manufacturing methods, amongst others. 1.1. Effect of alloying elements on the transformation kinetics. The transformation temperatures of 6/y and y/o. are changed noticeably by the alloying elements. It can be established that there are tree different effects on the equilibrium diagrams, a.) Elements which narrow the y area (Cr,Mo, T, P, Ti, Si, V, Al) 6.) Elements which widen the y area (C, N, Cu, Au,Co) c.) Elements which open the y area (Mn, Ni) (Fig. 1) With exeption of Co, all alloying elements cause a move of the S-and E-Point of the Fe-Fe,C-diagram to lower C content (to left side). 1.2. Effect of alloying elements on the critical cooling rate. Excessive Hardening: The C content exclusively determines the maximum attainable hardness of an alloy. Only the austenitisation criteria (hardening temperature and duration at this) and the cooling criteria (cooling rate, type of cooling medium) have any other influence over this. (Fig. 2) Depth of hardening / through hardening By alloying Si, Ni, Cr, Mo, Mn... the cooling time (to a level increasing in this order by element) until complete martensitic formation is increased when hardening, i.e. the upper critic cooling rate (c.) is diminished. (Fig. 3) As a consequence of the diminished cooling rate, martensite is also formed in the centre Of thicker sections, and the through-hardening thereof is greatly increased, in other words, the depth to which is hardened is greater. Structural forming at different cooling rates may be illustrated by TTT-diagrams (Time-Temperature-Transformation) ATTT diagram plots the alloy composition, the austenitisation temperature, and the duration maintained at this temperature. There are two types of TTT-diagrams, the Isothermal-transfomation diagram (IT) and the Continuous-transformation diagram (CT) (Fig. 4, 5) Some micrographs of structures with increasing cooling rate are shown in (Fig. 6 - 11)215-3 ‘An example of the alloying effect on the structural forming (and consequently of the hardness variation throughout the section) on two steels cooled in water and in oil is shown in the (Fig.12) Through hardening of unalloyed steels is only possible to a depth of around 20 mm diameter. For through hardening and tempering of a section however only a martensite proportion of 50% in the centre is necessary, since the remaining structure approximately corresponds to the required tempering structure (bainite). For larger sections, through hardening and tempering is only possible for alloyed grades. For this two steel grades, an unalloyed and a low alloyed steel type with Cr, Ni, and Mo, the CT-diagrams are shown in (Fig. 13) 1.3. Effect of the alloying elements on the TTT characteristics According to the requirements already in application, there are two different types of TTT procedure, which are as follows: rapid cooling to the specified temperature and extensive (isothermal) maintaining at this temperature with subsequent cooling to RT= Isothermal TTT diagram (abbreviated to IT diagram and primarily for the interpretation of heat-treatments). continual cooling from austenitisation temperature to RT, whereby the corresponding cooling cycle is entered= Continuous TTT diagram (CT diagram, used for example for evaluation of the structure with uncontrolled cooling e.g. welding seams). Both diagrams are read after the cooling cycle One diagram is prepared only for one single alloy and one austenitisation condition (temperature and duration at temperature) The effect of the individual alloying elements may be illustrated upon the example of an IT diagram asfollows in (Fig. 14) 1.4, Effect of the individual alloying elements on the material properties 1.4.1 Constant Fe-alloying elements: C, Si, Mn C - Carbon: 0 - 1,5% (2,3%) Most important alloying element, strongly increasing the tensile strength and wear resistance; decisive for hardenability and maximum hardness of tool steels. Content for different steel grades 0,01-0,10%C Steels with good forming capabilities, such as deep drawing steels; corrosion resistant; not magnetising steels, steels for case hardening,