Maraging steel

About: Maraging steel is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1728 publications have been published within this topic receiving 19886 citations. The topic is also known as: martensitic ageing steel.

Effect of heat treatment on microstructures of flow formed C-250 maraging steel

Abstract: The technique of forward flow forming has been used to produce a long thin walled tube of C-250 maraging steel. Forward flow forming can conserve material, increase strength and reduce production process time. Since the hardness of solution treated C-250, using flow forming, can be increased by approximately 16.2%, flow formed tube must be given an additional aging treatment to increase hardness and strength. Direct aging treatment yields low elongation, which is not suited to design requirements. Using a homogenisation treatment, the microstructure of C-250 was of coarse grained lath type on aging and of needle type after solution treatment and aging. These treatments resulted in low tensile strength, and tensile fracture showed a tendency to brittleness. A 'solution + aging' treatment yielded greater strength and elongation.

Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of Novel Co-Free Maraging Steel M789 Prepared by Additive Manufacturing

Abstract: This research aims to characterize and examine the microstructure and mechanical properties of the newly developed M789 steel, applied in additive manufacturing. The data presented herein will bring about a broader understanding of the processing–microstructure–property–performance relationships in this material based on its chemical composition and heat treatment. Samples were printed using the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process and then the solution was annealed at 1000 °C for 1 h, followed by aging at 500 °C for soaking times of 3, 6 and 9 h. The AM components showed a relative density of 99.1%, which arose from processing with the following parameters: laser power of 200 W, laser speed of 340 mm/s, and hatch distance of 120 µm. Optical and electron microscopy observations revealed microstructural defects, typical for LPBF processes, like voids appearing between the melted pools of different sizes with round or creviced geometries, nonmelted powder particle formation inside such cavities, and small spherical porosity that was preferentially located between the molten pools. In addition, in heat-treated conditions, AM maraging steel has combined oxide inclusions of Ti and Al (TiO2:Al2O3) that reside along the grain boundaries and secondary porosities; these may act as preferential zones for crack initiation and may increase the brittleness of the AM steel under aged conditions. Consequently, the elongation of the AM alloy was low (<3%) for both annealed and aged solution conditions. The tensile strength of AM M789 increased from 968 MPa (solution annealed) to 1500–1600 MPa after the aging process due to precipitation within the intermetallic η-phase. A tensile strength and yield point of 1607 ± 26 and 1617 ± 45 MPa were obtained, respectively, after a full heat treatment at 500 °C/6 h. The results show that 3 h aging of solution annealed AM M789 steel achieves satisfactory material properties in industrial practice. Extending the aging time of printed parts to 6 h yields slightly improved properties but may not be worth the effort, while long-term aging (9 h) was shown to even reduce quality.

Semisolid metal injection molding machine components

Abstract: The present invention provides an alloy for components of semi-solid injection molding machinery. In particular, the alloy is a intermetallic-hardened steel, known as a Maraging steel alloy. The Maraging steel alloy includes Cr, Co, Mo, and about 0.15% or less by weight C.