Effect of thermo-mechanical processing on oxidation of austenitic stainless steel 316L in supercritical water

Oxidation resistance of thermo-mechanical processed stainless steel 316L was studied. The samples were oxidized in supercritical water with 150 ppb inlet-dissolved O2 at 600 °C and 25 MPa. Results show that the proposed thermo-mechanical processing improved the oxidation resistance by altering the microstructure of stainless steel 316L. It was observed that grain boundaries volume fraction and crystallographic orientation of austenite grains play an important role in oxidation resistance of the material. In addition, oxide exfoliation was completely prevented by applying 50% or more rolling reduction during the thermo-mechanical processing