Precipitationstrengtheningaswellassolutionstrengtheningiskeymechanismforheatresistantsteels.Itisveryimportanttocharacterizetheprecipitatesin9%Crferriteheatresistantsteels,especiallytoshowthenanometer-sizedparticles.Bytransmissionelectronicmicroscopeattachedwithanenergydispersivespectrometeraswellasopticalmicroscope,scanningelectronicmicroscope,themicrostructureandchemicalcompositionofprecipitatesina9%Crheatresistantsteelafterdifferentheattreatmentswereinvestigated.ItwasfoundthatthemicrostructureofnormalizedsamplewasmartensitewithfineNbCandFe3C.Themicrostructureoftemperedsampleistemperedmartensite,andtheremainlyweretwotypesofprecipitates,M23C6withthesizerangeof50-300nmandMXwiththesizeof10-100nm.SuperfineM23C6precipitatedpreferablyonpriorausteniticgrainboundariesandmartensiticlathboundaries,whilenanometer-sizedMXprecipitatesweredistributedrandomly.Aftershort-termcreep,Lavesphaseformedalonggrainboundariesofthe9%Crsteel,andM23C6andMXprecipitateswerefoundtobecomecoarser.Moreinformationaboutprecipitatesinthe9%Crsteelhadbeenexhibitedbyatomicforcemicroscopy.Thereby,distribution,sizeandshapeoftheprecipitatesaswellastheircompositionsandstructureswererevealed.
