Abstract
Effects of solute elements on the creep strength were examined by using Fe-M-C (M=Cr, Mn, Mo, Nb, Ti, and W) and Fe-C alloys in view of M-C atomic pairs. Measurements of instantaneous elongation and contraction as a function of stress change revealed the existence of instantaneous plastic strain during steady state creep in all alloys. This indicates that the steady state creep of these alloys is controlled by the recovery process as in pure metals. From analysis by the model proposed by Sandström, it is concluded that M-C pair reduces the climb velocity of dislocations due to large interaction energies with dislocations. The magnitude of the reduction can be estimated from the binding energy between M and C atoms and the diffusion coefficient of M atom.
