Abstract:
To develop a thermomechanical process, which can improve sensitization in 304 stainless steel. The process consists of heat treating the as-received specimen at 900 ํC for 1 hr followed by a 3% reduction in thickness, and then heat treated at 900 ํC for 3 min. After 8 hr of sensitization at 650 ํC, weight loss measurements in boiling ferric sulfate-sulfuric acid solution indicated that the thermomechanically treated samples show 38% improvement. Although thermomechnical processing did not change its coincidence-site-lattice fraction but investigation on grain boundary inclination distribution indicated that the thermomechanical processing causes a change in its distribution with higher frequency around 20-40 ํC angle and results in a higher resistance in chromium carbide formation, and thus intergranular corrosion resistance. The thermomechanical processing production was simulated to analyze Cost-Volume-Profit compared with normal production by reference cost to weight loss ratio performance of other stainless steel types. It was found that the standard time of thermomechanical processing production is longer which leads to a loss in the first year. To be competitive the standard time must be decreased in the total thermomechanical processing time and capacity must also be increased to achieve the same level of profit as in the normal process in the first year.