The formation behavior of retained austenite and the effect of retained austenite and cold work on corrosion performance in super martensitic stainless steel were investigated. Reverse austenite, which forms during tempering above Acl transformation temperature, is so stabilized by concentration of Ni that it remains as retained austenite at room temperature and most of the retained austenite remains after cold work reduction up to 10%. Mo or Cr content in retained austenite is almost the same as that in martensite matrix. Localized or selective corrosion, which is often observed in dual phase material, was not observed due to uniform distribution of Mo and Cr element. When super martensitic stainless steel is exposed to an environment where the pH value is above depassivation pH, a stable passive film can be formed and this material shows high SSC resistance independent of the microstructure (e.g., where the volume fraction of retained austenite is up to 30% or cold work reduction up to 10%). It is also clarified that retained austenite reduces the content of hydrogen in martensite matrix. This can be interpreted that retained austenite increases the safety factor by depressing the SSC susceptibility even when the passive film become unstable.
Keywords: super martensitic stainless steel, retained austenite, SSC, cold work, hydrogen embrittlement