Effects of aluminum and titanium on the microstructure of ODS steels fabricated by hot pressing

Three oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) steels with compositions of Fe-14Cr-2W-0.2V-0.07Ta-0.3Y₂O₃ (wt%, so as the follows) (14Y), Fe-14Cr-2W-0.2V-0.07Ta-1Al-0.3Y₂O₃ (14YAl), and Fe-14Cr-2W-0.2V-0.07Ta-0.3Ti-0.3 Y₂O₃ (14YTi) were fabricated by hot pressing. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to characterize the microstructures and nanoparticles of these ODS steels. According to the TEM results, 14Y, 14YAl, and 14YTi ODS steels present similar bimodal structures containing both large and small grains. The addition of Al or Ti has no obvious effect on the microstructure of the steels. The spatial and size distribution of the nanoparticles was also analyzed. The results indicate that the average size of nanoparticles in the 14YTi ODS steel is smaller than that in the 14YAl ODS steel. Nanoparticles such as Y₂O₃, Y₃Al₅O₁₂ and YAlO₃, and Y₂Ti₂O₇ were identified in the 14Y, 14YAl, and 14YTi ODS steels, respectively.