Progress in Creep-Resistant Steels for High Efficiency Coal-Fired Power Plants

Recent progress in creep-resistant bainitic, martensitic, and austenitic steels for high efficiency coal-fired power plants is comprehensively reviewed with emphasis on long-term creep strength and microstructure stability at grain boundaries (GBs). The creep strength enhanced ferritic (CSEF) steels, such as Grade 91 (9Cr–1Mo–0.2V–0.05Nb), Grade 92 (9Cr–0.5Mo–1.8W–VNb), and Grade 122 (11Cr–0.4Mo–2W–1CuVNb), can offer the highest potential to meet the required flexibility for ultra-supercritical (USC) power plants operating at around 600 °C, because of their smaller thermal expansion and larger thermal conductivity than austenitic steels and Ni base alloys. Further improvement of creep strength of martensitic 9 to 12Cr steels has been achieved by substituting a part or all of Mo with W and also by the addition of Co, V, Nb, and boron. A martensitic 9Cr–3W–3Co–VNb steel strengthened by boron and MX nitrides, designated MARBN, exhibits not only much higher creep strength of base metal than Grade 91, Grade 92, and Grade 122 but also substantially no degradation in creep strength due to type IV fracture in welded joints at 650 °C. High-strength bainitic 2.25 to 3Cr steels have been developed by enhancing solid solution hardening due to W and precipitation hardening due to (V,Nb)C carbides in bainitic microstructure. The improvement of creep strength of austenitic steels has been achieved by solid solution hardening due to the addition of Mo, W, and nitrogen and by precipitation hardening due to the formation of fine MX (M = Ti, Nb, X = C, N), NbCrN, M₂₃C₆, Cu phase, and Fe₂(Mo,W) Laves phase. The boundary and sub-boundary hardening are shown to be the most important strengthening mechanism in creep of creep-resistant steels and is enhanced by fine dispersions of precipitates along boundaries.