Acceleration of nickel diffusion by high tensile stress in cold-worked type 316 stainless steel at 450°C

ABSTRACT

The effect of tensile stress on diffusion was studied by the diffusion couple method. A diffusion couple was prepared by electroless plating a nickel thin layer on the round notch surface of a compact tension-type specimen of 20% cold-worked Type 316 stainless steel. The couple was diffused at 450°C for 4003 h under the maximum tensile stress of 553 MPa in the load direction. A rapid diffusion coefficient of nickel in the Type 316 stainless steel was observed at the high tensile stress zone that was 6.5 times faster than that at the low-stress zone.

KEYWORDS:

• Nickel diffusion
• high tensile stress
• Type 316 stainless steel
• cold work

Acknowledgements

The authors specially thank Dr Roger W. Staehle for helpful suggestion and continuous encouragement. Careful and reliable experimental support by the staff at INSS, Dr T. Yamada, Dr T. Terachi, and Mr K. Murakami is also gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of this work by the Kansai Electric Power Company, LTD.