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Complex precipitates of Nb and V in ferritic steels have been considered to act as strong obstacles against dislocation glide. In the previous report, the authors investigated a complex precipitate of Nb and V in 9% Cr ferritic steel and showed that plate-like V-nitrides were formed adhering to spherical Nb (C,N) during tempering. These peculiar shaped precipitates are likely to trap dislocations during high temperature deformation such as creep. In this paper, the effect of the sizes of the complex carbonitrides on the creep strength of 9% Cr ferritic steels was investigated. The sizes of the carbonitrides were varied by changing the amount of N.

It has been considered that small additions of Nb and V have striking effects on the creep strength of high Cr ferritic steels which are used for elevated temperature services such as boilers, steam generators etc. Although Nb and V are thought to form complex precipitates which may act as obstacles for the dislocation glide, the distribution and morphology of the precipitates have not been clarified yet. Several examples of simple precipitates of V in low alloy steels were only reported. In this paper, the morphology of the complex carbonitride of Nb and V in 9% Cr ferritic steels was investigated and the role of the carbonitride on the creep strength was discussed.