It is recognized recently that primary "Chinese-script" Nb(C,N) carbonitride is critical to the development of cast austenitic heat-resistant steels for ultra-high temperature applications. In this paper, the precipitation behavior of Nb(C,N) carbonitride in a novel creep and fatigue resistant steel was investigated by the use of the liquid metal cooling directional solidification (LMC-DS) method under different withdraw rates. Thermodynamic calculations were also performed to aid in the understanding of the solidification behavior. Microstructural characterization and thermodynamic calculation agreed that the alloy solidified in the path of primary austenite, eutectic Nb(C,N) carbonitride, and secondary ferrite, regardless of the withdraw rate. However, the primary and secondary dendrite arm spacing decreased significantly with an increase in the withdraw rate, and a quantitative relationship was established. Furthermore, the eutectic reaction range increased at a higher withdraw rate, due to the rapid increase of the solid phase fraction and the accumulation of solutes in the interdendritic liquid phase. This gave rise to a decline in the interlamellar spacing of primary Nb(C,N) carbonitride sheets and rods for the higher withdraw rate. Therefore, a fine "Chinese-script" Nb(C,N) carbonitride in this type of alloys can be achieved through increasing the withdraw rate or the cooling rate during casting.
Keywords: austenitic steel; carbonitride; directional solidification; growth rate; morphology.