Metal Science and Heat Treatment Vol. 46, Nos.

5 – 6, 2004

STAINLESS STEELS
UDC 669.14.018.8

CORROSION-RESISTANT STEELS
FOR FORCE-MEASURING ELASTIC MEMBERS

L. V. Tarasenko,1 T. A. Krasov,1 and M. V. Unchikova1

Translated from Metallovedenie i Termicheskaya Obrabotka Metallov, No. 6, pp. 40 – 44, June, 2004.

The mechanical and corrosion properties of copper-bearing maraging steels used for fabricating force-measur-
ing elastic members of electronic strain-measuring scales are studied. The effects of aging temperature, pro-
cess heating, and presence of oxide film on the hardness, impact toughness, and parameters of the anode pro-
cess in potentiodynamic tests are investigated. After an analysis of the obtained results, a steel composition is
recommended for the production of force-measuring members, and a regime for its heat treatment is chosen.

INTRODUCTION 500°C the process of precipitation hardening in the matrix is

Today, platform, overhead track, railcar, crane, hopper,
and other kinds of electronic strain-measuring scales are
widely used in many branches of industry. A strain meter
consisting of a force-measuring elastic member (FMEM) and
a resistive-strain sensor transforming the mechanical strain
of the elastic member into an electrical signal are important
parts of such scales. The metrological characteristics of the
sensor are determined by the properties of the material of the
FMEM. With allowance for the operating conditions the lat-
ter should possess a high strength in combination with the
appropriate level of impact toughness at climatic temperature
fluctuations, and a high resistance to low plastic deforma-
tions and atmospheric corrosion. Maraging chromium-nickel
steels ÉP 410 and ÉP 817 of the Fe – Cr – Ni – Cu – Ti –
(Mo, Nb) system meet these requirements most fully.
In these steels with a low content of carbon, the balance
between ferrite- and austenite-forming elements is chosen so
that after hardening from 1000°C steel ÉP 410 has a
martensitic structure and steel ÉP 817 bears up to 30% re-
tained austenite in addition to martensite. The amount of aus-
tenite is decreased by an additional process operation, i.e.,
cold treatment [1, 2].
The hardened austenite of such steels undergoes aging,
which yields highly dispersed particles of e-Cu when they
are heated within 400 – 550°C. At a temperature exceeding
1 cess heating in the following mode: a hold at 70°C,
N. É. Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow,
Russia.
261
accompanied by an inverse a ® g transformation that yields
up to 25 – 30% reverted austenite. Such a structure ensures a
favorable combination of strength, reliability, and corrosion
resistance of the matrix metal and welded joints in aircraft
parts for which the steels in question have been designed
originally [3]. However, in force-measuring elastic members
the presence of austenite, which decreases the relaxation re-
sistance and increases the inelastic effects, is impermissible
[4]. In this connection, in the present work we studied the
temperature ranges of aging, in which reverted austenite does
not form.
The aim of the work consisted in choosing the material
for force-measuring elastic members of electronic scales by
comparing the mechanical and corrosion properties of
maraging steels ÉP 410 and ÉP 817, developing an appropri-
ate aging mode, and evaluating the effect of subsequent pro-
cess heating used for gluing resisting-strain sensor onto
FMEM.
METHODS OF STUDY
We studied steals from commercial heats with chemical
composition presented in the table. The heat treatment in-
cluded the following operations: hardening from 1000°C,
cold treatment at – 70°C for 2 h (only for steel ÉP 817), 1-h
aging at 425, 450, 475, 500, and 515°C, and three-stage pro-
1 h ® 140°C, 2 h ® 180°C, 6 h. The HRCe hardness was
0026-0673/04/0506-0261 © 2004 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
262 L. V. Tarasenko et al.

ià
In the stage of the development of the method for poten-
tiodynamic tests we solved the problem of choosing the com-
position of the electrolyte that would allow us to detect dif-
ferences in the anode behavior of the steels depending on the
imp
aging temperature. The form of the polarization curve and,
consequently, the number of parameters characterizing the
à corrosion resistance of the steels depends substantially on the
composition of the corrosion medium, i.e., on the acidity and
Ebp Efp Ep Eàd E
concentration of chlorine ions causing local corrosion. In this
log i [mÀ/ñm2 ] connection, we tested chlorine-bearing electrolytes com-
monly used for studying the corrosion behavior of chro-
103 mium-nickel steels, i.e., 3% NaCl (electrolyte 1 ), 0.01 N so-
102 lution of NaCl (electrolyte 2 ), and 0.01 N NaCl + 0.01 N
1 HCl (electrolyte 3 ). The first two electrolytes can be treated
101
2
100 3 as neutral ones, and the third can be treated as an acid me-
10 – 1 dium. The APC were taken in a potential control device
10 – 2 P-5848 in the mode of automatic scanning of the potential at
b a rate of 0.25 mV/sec. The polarization curves, which were
10 – 3
10 – 4 successively taken from three faces of every specimen,
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 showed satisfactory reproducibility of results.
E, mV (n.h.e.)

Fig. 1. Generalized anode polarization curve for passivated alloys
(a) and anode polarization curves for steel ÉP 817 after aging at
450°C in different electrolytes (b ): 1 ) 3% NaCl; 2 ) 0.01%-N NaCl;
3 ) 0.01%-N NaCl + 0.01%-N HCl.
measured using a TK-2M device according to the GOST
9013–59 Standard. The tests for impact toughness were per-
formed in a pendulum impact machine according to GOST
9454–60. The x-ray diffraction study for control of the pre-
sence of austenite was made with the help of a com-
puter-aided DRON-4 installation in cobalt Ka radiation.
In order to predict the corrosion behavior of the alloys
under operating conditions we used anode polarization
curves (APC). Such curves make it possible to determine the
electrochemical properties of steel, the general behavior of
the dependence of the rate of anode dissolution on the poten-
tial, the values of the critical parameters characterizing the
susceptibility to passivation, the rate of dissolution in passive
state, and the potential of transition to the range of trans-
passivation. In order to compare the corrosion resistance we
chose the following critical points of APC (Fig. 1a ) [5]: the
potential of the beginning of passivation Ebp , the maximum
passivation current imp , the potential of full passivation Efp ,
the potential of pit formation Ep , and the potential of the be-
ginning of active dissolution Ead .
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Mechanical Properties
According to the behavior of the hardness and the impact
toughness we can differentiate three ranges in the interval of
aging temperatures tag = 425 – 515°C (Fig. 2): (1 ) increase
in the hardness and decrease in the impact toughness
(“underaging” stage), (2 ) maximum hardness and lowered
impact toughness, and (3 ) decrease in the hardness and in-
crease in the impact toughness (“overaging” stage). The
maximum hardness is attained after aging at 475°C. Steel
ÉP 817 has a minimum impact toughness KCUmin =
1.2 MJ/m2 after aging at 450 – 475°C and steel ÉP 410 has
KCUmin = 0.8 MJ/m2 after aging at 450°C. Comparison of
experimental data shows that steel ÉP 817 has a higher hard-
ness and strengthens more during aging. The level of hard-
ness obtained in steel ÉP 817 corresponds to an ultimate rup-
ture strength sr = 1200 – 1350 MPa and a proportional limit
sp = 880 – 1000 MPa.
Analyzing the variation of mechanical properties of the
steels we discovered an unusual effect, i.e., after aging and
process heating the impact toughness of the steels increased
substantially. The hardness of specimens aged at 450 and
475°C remained virtually unchanged, while at 425°C it de-
creased somewhat. The observed behavior of the properties

TABLE 1. Chemical Composition of the Studied Steels

Content of elements, %
Grade of steel
C Cr Ni Mo Si Mn Cu Ti Nb
ÉP 410 (06Kh15N5D2T) 0.05 14.2 5.35 – 0.45 0.54 2.2 0.05 –
ÉP 817 (08Kh14N6D2MBT) 0.066 14.5 6.0 1.64 0.50 0.62 2.03 0.08 0.37
Corrosion-Resistant Steels for Force-Measuring Elastic Members 263

HRC KCU, ÌJ/m2 log i [mÀ/ñm2 ]

2 1
39 2.5 102

37 HRC 2.0 100

à
35 1.5 10 – 2
– 100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
33 1.0
KCU à E, mV (n.h.e.)
log i [mÀ/ñm2 ]
31 0.5
425 450 475 500 t, °C 1
102
2
HRC KCU, ÌJ/m2 3
100
HRC b
33 2.0 10 – 2
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
31 1.5 E, mV (n.h.e.)
29 1.0 Fig. 3. Anode polarization curves (electrolyte: 0.01%-N NaCl +
0.5
0.01%-N HCl) of steels ÉP 410 (a) and ÉP 817 (b ) after aging at a
27 KCU
b temperature of: 1 ) 425°C; 2 ) 450°C; 3 ) 475°C.
25 0
425 450 475 500 t, °C

Fig. 2. Dependence of the hardness and impact toughness of steels log i [mÀ/ñm2 ]
ÉP 817 (a) and ÉP 410 (b ) on the aging temperature: dashed lines) 1 2
aging with subsequent process heating in the mode 70°C, 102 3
1 h ® 140°C, 2 h ® 180°C, 6 h; solid lines) without process heating.
100

seems to be caused by substantial relaxation of stresses in
long-term heating at 140 – 180°C. This shows that the pro-
cess of heating improves the properties of parts rather than
worsening them.
Corrosion Properties
The APC (see Fig. 1b ) taken in electrolyte 1 do not have
a passive region. Upon decrease in the concentration of chlo-
rine atoms (electrolytes 2 and 3 ) the APC acquires a form
typical for passivated systems. Electrolyte 3 is the most “in-
formative”; the APC taken in it exhibits all stages of dissolu-
tion typical for passivating materials. In this connection, we
chose electrolyte 3 for studying the effect of the aging mode
on the electrochemical properties of the steels.
Comparing the APC of the studied steels obtained in
electrolyte 3 (Fig. 3) we established that steel ÉP 410 had a
lower corrosion resistance, which was manifested in the ab-
sence of a passivation region and high values of corrosion
currents in all stages of anode dissolution.
The lower corrosion rate of steel ÉP 817, which was con-
nected with the molybdenum additive stabilizing the passive
film [6], made us choose this very steel for further and more
detailed studies of the effect of aging temperature on the ki-
netics of anode process in different electrolytes.
It is known that a heterogeneous structure formed in ag-
ing of steels and causing enhancement of strength commonly
affects negatively the corrosion resistance. For this reason,
10 – 2
– 100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
E, mV (n.h.e.)
Fig. 4. Anode polarization curves (electrolyte: 3% NaCl) of steel
ÉP 817 after aging at a temperature of: 1 ) 425°C, 2 ) 450°C;
3 ) 475°C.
we studied the anode behavior of the steels after aging at va-
rious temperatures.
The APC taken in electrolyte 1 show (Fig. 4) that growth
in the aging temperature increases the dissolution potential.
The picture is the same in electrolyte 3, where we can easily
follow all the stages of the corrosion process. According to
the data in Fig. 3b the transition of the metal to passive state
becomes easier with growth in the aging temperature of steel
ÉP 817 from 425 to 475°C, which is reflected in the decrease
in the potential of the beginning of passivation, i.e.,
Ebp = 240, 200, and 80 mV at tag = 425, 450, and 475°C, re-
spectively. Aging at 425°C does not cause full passivation of
the metal in the given electrolyte. As the aging temperature is
increased from 450 to 475°C, the surface becomes fully pas-
sivated at electrode potentials of 300 – 480 and 200 – 400 mV,
respectively. Thus, the transition to the passive state is hin-
dered the most at 425°C, whereas the susceptibility to
passivation of the structures formed due to aging at 450 and
475°C differs inconsiderably. The highest resistance to pit-
ting corrosion manifested in the maximum potential of pit
264 L. V. Tarasenko et al.

log i [mÀ/ñm2 ]
susceptibility of the metal to passivation. For this purpose we
1 compared the APC of specimens with oxidized and ground
2
102 surfaces (Fig. 5). After aging at 425°C the APC of specimens
100
with an oxide film and without it differed inconsiderably. Af-
ter aging at 450 and 475°C the specimens with an oxide film
10 – 2 à had worse electrochemical properties; the corrosion current
– 100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 E, mV (n.h.e.) increased by 2 – 3 orders of magnitude, and the potential of
transition of the metal to the active state decreased substan-
log i [mÀ/ñm2 ]
tially. These results coincide well with the data presented in
1 [3]. The worsening of corrosion properties should be con-
102 nected with depletion of the surface layer of chromium as a
2 result of its diffusion into the oxide layer and subsequent in-
100
teraction with oxygen. With growth in the aging temperature
10 – 2 b the negative effect of oxide films on the corrosion behavior
of steel ÉP 817 became more substantial (Fig. 5).
– 100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 E, mV (n.h.e.)

log i [mÀ/ñm2 ] CONCLUSIONS

1
102
100 2
10 – 2 c terials for the production of force-measuring elastic members
– 100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 E, mV (n.h.e.)
Fig. 5. Anode polarization curves (electrolyte: 3% NaCl) of steel
ÉP 817 after aging at 425°C (a), 450°C (b ), and 475°C (c): 1 ) with
oxide film formed on the surface in aging; 2 ) after grinding-off the
oxide film.
formation Ep at minimum corrosion current is observed after
aging at 450°C.
Explaining the obtained results, we should take into ac-
count that the anode behavior of the steels is influenced by
various structural factors such as the size and number of par-
ticles segregated in aging, the nature of their bonding to the
matrix, the chemical nature of the particles, the uniformity of
their distribution on the surface, and the decrease in micro-
stresses (change in the dislocation structure) due to temper-
ing of martensite. We presumed in the present work that the
beginning of formation of pits was affected most by the uni-
formity of distribution of particles of the e-Cu phase on the
surface of the metal, which is responsible for the formation
of a passive film more homogeneous over the thickness [5].
Another structural change promoting the improvement of an-
ode characteristics of steel ÉP 817 after aging at 450°C
seems to be the decrease in microstresses in the martensitic
matrix.
Effect of Oxide Films
The special features of the process of fabrication of elas-
tic members made us estimate the effect of oxide films
formed on the surface at different aging temperatures on the
1. We have compared the mechanical and corrosion
properties of chromium-nickel copper-bearing maraging
steels ÉP 410 and ÉP 817 in order to choose one of these ma-
(FMEM) of electronic scales operating in open air.
2. In the range of aging temperatures eliminating the for-
mation of reverted austenite, steel ÉP 817, which contained
molybdenum and niobium additives, exhibited the best com-
bination of hardness, impact toughness, and corrosion resis-
tance.
3. Process heating included into the process of produc-
tion of strain sensor after aging increased the impact tough-
ness without a considerable decrease in the hardness.
4. Oxide films formed in the steel in aging can be used as
decorative elements only if the aging temperature does not
exceed 425°C.
5. We have chosen electrolytes that make it possible to
detect the difference in the parameters of anode polarization
curves after aging at different temperatures in the stage of
underaging. In electrolytes with compositions close to neu-
tral ones the total corrosion resistance of the metal in the
underaging stage increases with growth in the aging temper-
ature. We assume that the corrosion behavior of the studied
steels primarily depends on the uniformity of distribution of
particles of the hardening phase in the surface layer, which
affects the homogeneity of the passive film.
6. We recommend steel ÉP 817 (06Kh14N6M2DBT) as
a high-strength corrosion-resistant material for the produc-
tion of force-measuring elastic members of strain sensors of
electronic scales. Though more expensive than steel ÉP 410
(08Kh15N5D2T), steel ÉP 817 is advantageous with respect
to strength and corrosion characteristics. The recommended
aging mode (450°C with 1-h hold) eliminates the formation
of austenite, unfavorably affecting the elastic properties of
the steel.
Corrosion-Resistant Steels for Force-Measuring Elastic Members
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