Abstract
In this study, mechanical tests and microstructural analyses including TEM analyses with EDX of precipitates in modified 9Cr-1Mo steel were carried out to determine the cause of embrittlement observed after heat-treatment, which limits the usage of the alloy for power plants. Mod. 9Cr-1Mo steel specimens at austenite temperature were quenched to the molten salt baths at $760^{\circ}C$ and $700^{\circ}C$, in which the specimens were kept for 10 min ~ 10 hr with subsequent air-cooling. Impact tests showed that the impact value dropped abruptly when the specimens were kept longer than 30 min at $\sim760^{\circ}C$ reaching to minima in about 1 hr, and then increasing at further retention. The tensile strength of the specimens reached the minimum value without much change afterward, whereas the values of elongation showed the same trend as that of the impact value. The isothermally heat-treated steel at $700^{\circ}C$ also showed a minimum impact value in about 1 hr. These results suggest that the isothermal heattreatment at 760 and $700^{\circ}C$ for about 1 hr induces temporal embrittlement in Mod. 9Cr-1Mo steel. The microstructural examination of all the specimens with extraction replica of the carbides revealed that the specimens with temporal embrittlement had $Cr_2C$, indicating that the cause of the embrittlement was the precipitation of the $Cr_2C$. In addition, TEM/EDX results showed that the Fe/Cr ratio was 0.033 to 0.055 for $Cr_2C$, whereas it was 0.48 to 0.75 for $Cr_{23}C_6$, making the distinction of the $Cr_2C$ and $Cr_{23}C_6$ possible even without direct electron diffraction analyses.
