Abstract: In this research, aging treatments at temperatures of 800 and 900°C for different aging time of 5{60 min were conducted on solution treated as well as hot worked samples of 2205 dual phase stainless steel. The effect of aging treatment on precipitation of intermetallic phases was investigated in undeformed specimens and those subjected to hot deformation with different strain rates of 0.001−1 s⁻¹. It was found that σ precipitation increased by hot working. It was also concluded that the volume fraction of phase increased with deformation temperature and decreased with strain rate. The precipitation of intermetallic phases (i.e. σ and χ) was analyzed by an Avrami-type kinetics equation of %(σ+χ)=A(1-exp(-ktⁿ)) and the values of n and ln k were estimated for different thermomechanical regimes. The values of n were assessed to increase from 0.4 to 1 with strain rate in the studied range. Otherwise, It was also understood that ln k decreased with strain rate. Microstructural observations by means of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed that σ particles mostly nucleated at the ferrite-austenite interfaces. But no sign of Â-phase could be seen. This fortified the idea of certain literature that Â-phase always forms at early stages of aging and consumes through the precipitation of σ.

Key words: Duplex stainless steel, Aging, Hot working,  &sigma, phase