HEAT

TREATMENT
S.S.
V.V.

Ryzhak,
Sachov,

OF

MARAGING

STEEL

00N18K9M5T
UDC 669.15-194.55:621. 785. 784

O.K.
Revyakina,
and Ya.M.
Potak

Overheating of steel 00N18K9M5T during hot working o r heat treatment leads to s e v e r e grain growth
which is not c o r r e c t e d by n o r m a l quenching (1 h, 820~
The purpose of this investigation was to find a heat t r e a t m e n t to refine the grains of steel overheated
in the c o u r s e of hot working in o r d e r to improve the m e c h a n i c a l p r o p e r t i e s . We also d e t e r m i n e d the m e c h a n ical p r o p e r t i e s after v a r i o u s aging t r e a t m e n t s . The composition of the steels is given in Table 1.
The steel was melted in an open induction furnace and then r e m e l t e d in a v a c u u m - a r c furnace.*
To refine the grains the bars of melt 2, overheated at 1100~ for 2 h, w e r e s t n g l e - a n d t r i p l e - q u e n c h e d
f r o m 900, 920, 950, and 975~ and then quenched f r o m 820~ (1 h) and aged 3 h at 480~
The best r e s u l t s with r e g a r d to m i c r o s t r u c t u r e , f r a c t u r e , and reduction in section were obtained after
triple r e c r y s t a l l i z a t i o n at 950~
Triple heating at 900~ also improved the reduction in section eonsiderably
(Fig. 1).
The effect of overheating on susceptibility to brittle f r a c t u r e was d e t e r m i n e d on s a m p l e s (melt 1)
with a section of 2.5 x 10 mmwhich had a s u r f a c e c r a c k 2.5 m m long. The s a m p l e s were tested in tension
by the method d e s c r i b e d in [1]. Longitudinal s a m p l e s w e r e taken f r o m b a r s 130 ram in d i a m e t e r (grain size
of grade 1-3) and f r o m h o t - r o l l e d plate 2.5 m m thick (grain size of grade 8). F o r comparison, s a m p l e s of
h i g h - s t r e n g t h s t r u c t u r a l steel E1643 were also tested (0.42% C,
TABLE 1. Chemical Composition
0,91% Cr, 0.94% Si, 2.70% Ni, 0.32% Mo).
of Steel 00N18K9M5T
Overheating of steel 00N18K9M5T i n c r e a s e s its susceptibility
d
Composition,
%
to brittle f r a c t u r e (Table 2). P r e l i m i n a r y triple quenching r e m o v e s
N, I,~,o,
Z c
'
It co TI A,t I B Zr
* C o m m e r e i a l production of the steel has been developed at the E l e c t r o 0016 117,93 508 907 0 88 0 18 0003810,028
0'010 18,19 8 13 9,21 0'7a Io 16] 0'0045 0,020
s t a l ' Plant by A. P. Boyarinova, T.S. Savel'eva, P . N . Grashchenkov,
3 0:on[18,70 %14 9,18 0:72~0:10:o:ooas0,02a
P . I . Melikhov, et al.
Ngte: Mn and Si < 0.1%; P and S <0 0t~/o
TABLE 2. Susceptibility to Brittle F r a c t u r e of SteMs 00N18K9M5T and
~I643 with a Surface Fatigue C r a c k 2.5 m m long

Sample prepared from:

Heat treatment
I

o b, kg/mmz
~rain size smooth samples with
grade) ;amples crack

00N18KgMST hot-rolled Quenched 820"C (1 h) + age 3 h

plate (2.5 mm)
450~

I94~ I

194

1_3 llS _l%L15o_i,2

00N18K9M5T overheated Triple quenched 920~ (1 h)+
rod (d = 130 mm)
820~ h) + age3h 450~

5--6

193

190--199

EI643 hot-rolled plate

(2,5 mm)

6--7

190

142

ll-quenched 900"C (20 min) +

mper 3 h 200~

T r a n s l a t e d f r o m Metallovedenie i T e r m i e h e s k a y a Obrabotka Metallov, No. 6, pp. 20-22, June, 1968.

431

TABLE 3. Strength of "Light" Melts

of Steel 00N18K9M5T in Relation to
Aging C onditions (Quenched f r o m
820~
1 h)

o b,
kg/mm~
22O

2fO
2O0

_..~-.

~:lt i
kg-m/cm2
2i

Melt Not Ti, % 450~ 3 h I480~ 3h 450~ 16 h

3O-/~--'''~'-

J[3Ill.h
t~rg"es"
h

tOf
0

%, ~g/'mm2

30 rain

gO0

925

4
5
6
7
8
9
10

0,64
0,64
0,69
0,65
0,56
0,57
0,fi6

189--1891191--206
191--192 188----199
193--t98119i--195
181--1841191
172--1801167--173
184---188 172--181
186--200 182--190

950

224
211--215
208--210
201
196--198
201--204
207--209

Prehminary quenching temp.

Fig. 1. Effect of p r e l i m i n a r y
quenching on the m e c h a n i c a l p r o p e r t i e s of overheated xnelt 2 after
quenching f r o m 820~ (1 h) and
aging 3 h at 480~
Initially o v e r heated to ll00~

~ b, 00. 2,

kg/mm2 ,
ZOO

150

,ii
~na

,an, kg-m/cm2

_,,,300 ~00%7
500

,o

20]0

Ob'
Agingtemperature
kg/mm 2 ~eo~

'~176
; ~'*~ - ' - ~

'%,o

the elevated susceptibility to cracking. The data in

Table 2 show that even with s e v e r e overheating 00N18K9M5T steel is less susceptible to cracking then 1~I643.
The effect of aging t e m p e r a t u r e and time was determined with rods 12 and 14 m m in d i a m e t e r quenched
f r o m 820~ (melt 3). Figure 2 shows the variation of
the m e c h a n i c a l p r o p e r t i e s with aging conditions f o r
steel 00N18KgM5T. 'To i n c r e a s e the impact toughness
the steel can be used without aging or with overaging.
F o r the same strength the ductility is higher in unaged
samples.
The investigation shows that the
p r o c e d u r e for steel 00N18K9M5T (3 h,
not always the optimal treatment. The
i n c r e a s e d with longer aging at 480 or
at 425~ (8-16 h).

accepted aging
480~ [2, 3] is
strength can be
450~
or even

Reducing the aging t e m p e r a t u r e along with inc r e a s i n g the aging time does not i m p a i r the plasticity
or ductility (at the same strength).
Obviously, in production it is better to use lowt e m p e r a t u r e aging with a longer aging time for m o r e
p r e c i s e control of the strength of machine p a r t s .
In addition, the duration of aging can be used to
i n c r e a s e the strength of "light" m e l t s with relatively
low concentrations of elements.

,so

I ~176

tO

Ja

t5 h

Aging 'time
Fig. 2. Effect of aging t e m p e r a t u r e
(3 h ) a n d aging time on the m e c h a n ical p r o p e r t i e s of Samples f r o m
m e l t 3 quenched f r o m 820~ (1 h).

, L i g h t " melts do not r e a c h the required strength

(o-b -> 195 k g / m m 2) after the standard aging (3 h at 450
or 480~
I n c r e a s i n g the aging time to 16 h at 450~
brings the strength up to specifications without lowering
the plasticity (Table 3).
CONCLUSIONS

1. Grain refining of overheated steel 00N18K9M5T r e q u i r e s triple water-quench o r air-quench f r o m

900-950~ (holding 1 h) before quenching f r o m 820~
2. F o r the same strength, the ductility of the unaged steel is somewhat higher than that of the overaged
steel.
450~
432

3. The strength of ~light ~ m e l t s can be i n c r e a s e d substantially by i n c r e a s i n g the aging time to 16 h at

without lowering the plasticity.

LITERATURE
I.
2.
3.

CITED

V.V. Sachkov, A.A. Mikheev, and E.S. Kagan, Zavod. Lab., 33, No. 4 (1967).
R. D e c k e r , I. Eash, and A. Goldman, Trans. ASM, 55 (1962).
J. Mihalisin and C. Bieber, J. Metals, 18, No. 9 (1966).

433