Precipitation behavior and strengthening mechanism in an additive manufactured maraging steel

LIU Qingdong; ZHANG Mengchao; LIU Mingyang; LIU Xiaohui; LI Hui; WANG Zemin; ZHAO Bo; GU Jianfeng

doi:10.13228/j.boyuan.issn0449-749x.20240246

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Iron and Steel ›› 2024, Vol. 59 ›› Issue (6) : 49-59. DOI: 10.13228/j.boyuan.issn0449-749x.20240246

Materials

Precipitation behavior and strengthening mechanism in an additive manufactured maraging steel

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Abstract

In order to improve the quality and international competitiveness of molds in China and accelerate the application of additive manufacturing in mold field,starting from the demand for replaceable additive manufacturing insert materials in automotive integrated die casting technology,a new type of alloy steel suitable for additive manufacturing was developed based on 18Ni300 maraging steel,by composition optimization strategies of reducing the Ni,adjusting Co,maintaining Al and adding an appropriate amount of Cu. Microstructural characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy （SEM）,transmission electron microscopy （TEM）,and atom probe tomography （APT） were utilized to investigate the precipitation process and strengthening mechanism of the secondary phase during tempering of the as-built martensitic maraging steel. The results showed that,at different tempering temperatures,the martensitic maraging steel exhibited significant precipitation strengthening effects. The hardness reached a peak at 560 ℃（54HRC）,while the hardness at both 460 ℃ and 600 ℃ was approximately 50HRC. Although the tensile strengths were similar,the yield strength was lower at 600 ℃ tempering. Moreover,the elongation and impact toughness were significantly improved,with the fracture surface showing clear plastic fracture characteristics. During low-temperature tempering （460 ℃）,significant clustering of Ni,Cu was observed,indicating the early formation of Cu-rich β-NiAl phase nuclei,along with the compositional fluctuations of Cr and the formation of nano-sized reversed austenite（γ） phase. At high-temperature tempering （600 ℃）,nano-sized β-NiAl phase and small Mo-,W-,and Cr-rich Laves phase were formed,exhibiting the orientation relationship of [001]_β//[001]_α and [1¯1¯23]_Laves//[011]_α,respectively. Meanwhile,a dual-phase microstructure of α+γ was formed that is thought to improve plasticity and toughness significantly. The Ni-rich clusters and fluctuations in Cr composition formed at 460 ℃ may serve as precursors for the β-NiAl and Laves phases during 600 ℃ tempering,both of which are the main contributors to precipitation strengthening.

Key words

additive manufacture / maraging steel / precipitation strengthening / β-NiAl phase / Laves phase / die casting

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LIU Qingdong, ZHANG Mengchao, LIU Mingyang, et al. Precipitation behavior and strengthening mechanism in an additive manufactured maraging steel[J]. Iron and Steel, 2024, 59(6): 49-59 https://doi.org/10.13228/j.boyuan.issn0449-749x.20240246

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