Nirogen Contamination in Type 321 Stainless Steel!

[hnaziri]

Is there such a thing as "Nitrogen contamination in type 321 stainless steel during annealing process"?

 

[metengr]

Here are some threads related to the heat treatment of 321 ss;

thread330-119356
thread367-119691


Yes. Inadvertent nitrogen pick-up in the 321 ss during solution treatment or during a stabilization heat treatment can result in the formation of unwanted precipitates. Nitrogen can combine with titanium (stabilizer), chromium and carbon to form CrN,Ti(CN) precipitates that adversely effect both corrosion resistance and loss of creep strength.

 

[305ss]

metengr is correct, If you are annealing the 321ss in a vacuun furnace you may want to try using Argon as a quench gas.