Grain Growth Kinetics of a Ti+Nb Stabilized 12%Cr Ferritic Stainless Steel at High Temperature
By using a thermal simulator this work investigated grain growth behaviour of a Ti+Nb stabilized 12%Cr ferritic stainless steel at high temperature. The results showed that the grain growth rate was less than 1.8μm/s at the temperature of 1200°C, but it suddenly became very high and reached about 50μm/s when the temperature was 1250°C. Analysis results indicate that grain growth of this steel is affected by the small particles on the grain boundaries, and grain growth exponent is about 3.3. Moreover, the activation energy of the grain growth is when the temperature is above 1250°C. Compared with a 27Cr ferritic stainless steel containing only 0.14%Nb, the grain growth exponent of this steel is greater, and grain initial rapid growth temperature is higher.