Design and Characterization of a Heat-Resistant Ferritic Steel Strengthened by MX Precipitates

The long-term performance of current heat-resistant ferritic steels used in steam generators is primarily limited by microstructure degradation as a result of coarsening or transformation of precipitates. To improve the microstructural stability, a heat-resistant ferritic steel was designed via computational thermodynamics to exclusively contain metal carbonitride (MX) precipitates as the primary means for strengthening at elevated temperatures....