Abstract
The variation in the steady-state creep behaviour with ageing time of 20Cr–25Ni–1Nb stainless steel has been studied over a stress range of 60–160 N/mm2 and at a temperature of 1023 K. After short ageing times at 1023 K before creep, activation-energy values were found to be greater than that for self-diffusion (∆H S D ) and to decrease with increasing applied stress. With increasing ageing time, the creep activation energy became less stress-dependent and approached ∆H S D . This change was accompanied by a gradual reduction in the magnitude of the stress exponent. As the ageing time increases, NbC precipitates coarsen and the NbC→M6C transformation occurs. The creep behaviour is attributed to the variations of internal backstress that accompany these changes in structure.

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