Short-term creep approach to redefining the role of 17-4PH stainless steel for high-temperature applications

The creep response of the 17-4PH martensitic age-hardening steel in H1150 state was investigated at 427 and 482 degrees C. Hardness measurements of the heads of the creep samples demonstrated that the material underwent additional age hardening during the high-temperature exposure. Microstructural investigations confirmed that the additional precipitation of carbides and the G-phase occurred at the lowest temperature. A set of constitutive equations previously developed to describe the creep response of particle-strengthened alloys was successfully used to obtain a comprehensive description of the experimental data. The value of the particle strengthening term was obtained from the hardness measurements and corresponded to the Orowan stress. The model accurately described the observed minimum creep rate dependence on the applied stress and explained the occurrence of lower values of the minimum strain rate observed during variable-load experiments.