The increasing demands for efficiency and flexibility result in more severe operating conditions for the materials used in critical components of biomass power plants. These operating conditions involve higher temperature ranges, more pronounced environmental effects and cyclic operations. Austenitic stainless steels have shown to possess promising high temperature properties which makes them suitable as candidates for critical components in biomass power plant. However, their behaviour under such conditions is not yet fully understood. This work investigates three commercial austenitic alloys: Esshete 1250, Sanicro 25 and Sanicro 31HT. The alloys were subjected to in-phase (IP) thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) testing under strain-control in the temperature range of 100–800 °C. Both virgin and pre-aged TMF specimens were tested in order to simulate service degradation resulting from long-term usage. The results show that the pre-aged specimens suffered shorter TMF-life compared to the virgin specimens. The scanning electron microscopy methods electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to analyse and discuss active failure and deformation mechanisms. The difference in TMF-life produced by the two testing conditions was attributed to an embrittling effect by precipitation, reduced creep properties and oxidation assisted cracking.

Highly alloyed austenitic stainless steels are promising candidates to replace more expansive nickel-based alloys within the energy-producing industry. The present study investigates the deformation mechanisms by microstructural characterisation, mechanical properties and stress-strain response of three commercial austenitic stainless steels and two commercial nickel-based alloys using uniaxial tensile tests at elevated temperatures from 400 C up to 700 C. The materials showed different influence of temperature on ductility, where the ductility at elevated temperatures increased with increasing nickel and solid solution hardening element content. The investigated materials showed planar dislocation driven deformation at elevated temperature. Scanning electron microscopy showed that deformation twins were an active deformation mechanism in austenitic stainless steels during tensile deformation at elevated temperatures up to 700 C.