After the heat treatment at 1200 oC 30 minutes followed by water cooling and 700 oC 4 hours for HR3C (S31042) boiler steel, the bar-like carbides precipitate in grain boundaries and within grains. It was found that the bar-like carbides nucleate in the grain boundaries and grew into grains in a parallel manner. With the help of TEM, the carbides were characterized to be M23C6, with a length of about 6μm and width of 0.6-0.8μm. Through observing crept specimens after testing at 700 oC, it was found that fine and dispersed MX (about 20nm) as well as dislocation walls exist inside grains, except bar-like and granular M23C6 carbide.

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