This article presents an overview of the developments in stainless steels made since the 1990s. Some of the new applications that involve the use of stainless steel are also introduced. A brief introduction to the various classes of stainless steels, their precipitate phases and the status quo of their production around the globe is given first. The advances in a variety of subject areas that have been made recently will then be presented. These recent advances include (1) new findings on the various precipitate phases (the new J phase, new orientation relationships, new phase diagram for the Fe–Cr system, etc.); (2) new suggestions for the prevention/mitigation of the different problems and new methods for their detection/measurement and (3) new techniques for surface/bulk property enhancement (such as laser shot peening, grain boundary engineering and grain refinement). Recent developments in topics like phase prediction, stacking fault energy, superplasticity, metadynamic recrystallisation and the calculation of mechanical properties are introduced, too. In the end of this article, several new applications that involve the use of stainless steels are presented. Some of these are the use of austenitic stainless steels for signature authentication (magnetic recording), the utilisation of the cryogenic magnetic transition of the sigma phase for hot spot detection (the Sigmaplugs), the new Pt-enhanced radiopaque stainless steel (PERSS) coronary stents and stainless steel stents that may be used for magnetic drug targeting. Besides recent developments in conventional stainless steels, those in the high-nitrogen, low-Ni (or Ni-free) varieties are also introduced. These recent developments include new methods for attaining very high nitrogen contents, new guidelines for alloy design, the merits/demerits associated with high nitrogen contents, etc.

Recent developments in stainless steels

Materials Challenges in Nuclear Energy

Many traditional approaches for strengthening steels typically come at the expense of useful ductility, a dilemma known as strength-ductility trade-off. New metallurgical processing might offer the possibility of overcoming this. Here we report that austenitic 316L stainless steels additively manufactured via a laser powder-bed-fusion technique exhibit a combination of yield strength and tensile ductility that surpasses that of conventional 316L steels. High strength is attributed to solidification-enabled cellular structures, low-angle grain boundaries, and dislocations formed during manufacturing, while high uniform elongation correlates to a steady and progressive work-hardening mechanism regulated by a hierarchically heterogeneous microstructure, with length scales spanning nearly six orders of magnitude. In addition, solute segregation along cellular walls and low-angle grain boundaries can enhance dislocation pinning and promote twinning. This work demonstrates the potential of additive manufacturing to create alloys with unique microstructures and high performance for structural applications.

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1443&context=ameslab_manuscripts

Additively manufactured hierarchical stainless steels with high strength and ductility

Mes premiers remtrciements trout aux auteurs des 206 communications th6matiquts et notes de projet, sans qui ces actes n'auraient 6videmment pas vu le jour. / Is oat contribu6 h la qualit6 scientifique et ,5 I'hmuog6t~6it6 pr6sentationntlle de leurs articles en refondant les versions iuitiales soumises an comit6 de programme, ea acceptant de suivre les r~gles de pr6sentation indiqu6es, et en nous envoyant parrots plusieurs versions am61ior6es surun point ou sur l'autrc.

/pdf/about-these-proceedings-4s0qpzq930.pdf

K. Farrell

Papers

Temperature dependence of strain hardening and plastic instability behaviors in austenitic stainless steels

Correlation of neutron and heavy-ion damage: I. The influence of dose rate and injected helium on swelling in pure nickel

Plastic instability in polycrystalline metals after low temperature irradiation

Deformation mode maps for tensile deformation of neutron-irradiated structural alloys

On the origin of deformation microstructures in austenitic stainless steel: part I—microstructures