Ultrasonic Shot Peening and Its Influence on Oxidation Behavior of 347 Grade Austenitic Stainless Steel

Abstract

The newly developed austenitic stainless-steel grade 347 is widely used in thermal power plants as a thick steam pipe component for heat exchanger, steam super-heater and re-heater applications. This alloy has requisite mechanical properties like creep performance and oxidation resistance under steam and furnace exhaust gases over an operating temperature range of 500–800 °C. Although, these steels also suffer from oxidation, oxide scale exfoliation and hot corrosion after long time exposure to severe environment or at higher temperature. Adhesion of oxide scale is a crucial factor to know the oxidation resistance of an alloy. Ultrasonic shot peening (USSP) is a prominent process for surface treatment to enhance mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of a material. The main objective of this research work is to study the mechanism of high temperature oxidation in air environment and its improvement through surface modification by USSP. USSP was done on SS347 for different time periods of 0.0, 2.0 and 3.0 min. There was improvement in the oxidation resistance at 750 °C for SS347 by USSP treatment at different time intervals. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.