High-temperature performance of cast CF8C-plus austenitic stainless steel

Covers and casings of small to medium size gas turbines can be made from cast austenitic stainless steels, including grades such as CF8C, CF3M, or CF10M. Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Caterpillar have developed a new cast austenitic stainless steel, CF8C-Plus, which is a fully austenitic stainless steel, based on additions of Mn and N to the standard Nb-stabilized CF8C steel grade. The Mn addition improves castability, as well as increases the alloy solubility for N, and both Mn and N synergistically act to boost mechanical properties. CF8C-Plus steel has outstanding creep-resistance at 600-900°C, which compares well with Ni-based superalloys such as alloys X, 625, 617, and 230. CF8C-Plus also has very good fatigue and thermal fatigue resistance. It is used in the as-cast condition, with no additional heat-treatments. While commercial success for CF8C-Plus has been mainly for diesel exhaust components, this steel can also be considered for gas turbine and microturbine casings. The purposes of this paper are to demonstrate some of the mechanical properties, to update the long-term creep-rupture data, and to present new data on the high-temperature oxidation behavior of these materials, particularly in the presence of water vapor.