High-nitrogen stainless steel (HNSS) has been widely concerned and studied owing to its excellent mechanical, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility properties. A series of HNSS was prepared by metal injection molding (MIM) using gas atomized Fe-Cr-Mn-Mo-0.3 N duplex stainless steel powders. Both sintering and solution treatments were carried out in an N2 atmosphere. The effects of nitrogen distribution and phase transformation on the mechanical properties of MIM HNSS during sintering and solution were studied. The results show that as the sintering temperature increased, the sample density increased, but the total nitrogen content decreased. Nitrogen and Cr2N concentration gradients along the cross-section of as-sintered samples were formed after cooling. The high nitrogen content promotes the decomposition of γ: γsaturated translated to γ and Cr2N. Meanwhile, the low Mn content in austenite also decomposes γ: γ translated to α and Cr2N. After solution treatment, a single γ phase was obtained for samples sintered at 1200 to 1320 °C. For solution treatment samples sintered at 1320 and 1350 °C, their tensile strength was 988.76 and 1036.12 MPa; yield strength was 615.61 and 636.14 MPa, and elongation was 42.58 and 40.08%, respectively. These values vastly exceeded the published MIM HNSS values.
Keywords: high-nitrogen stainless steel; mechanical properties; metal injection molding; nitrogen concentration gradient; phase transformation.