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AEROSPACE STEEL

Dra. Adriana Salas Zamarripa Octubre 2013

STEEL

High Strength Low Alloys Steels


Maraging PH

steels

Steels

HIGH-STRENGTH STEELS

are applied for aerospace structural forgings such as landing-gear components, rocket cases and airframe fittings. The dividing line above which a steel is designated "highstrength" is commonly regarded as ~1200 MPa yield strength. Alloying elements are added to prevent or retard the formation of nonmartensitic microconstituents during quenching. The maximum attainable strength level is determined by the carbon content. In order to improve the ductility and toughness of hardened steel, it is reheated for a relatively short time at the moderate temperature.

HIGH-STRENGTH STEELS

Many high-strength steels are variations of 4340 (SAE). Stainless steels are used in high-strength applications where corrosion resistance is the controlling factor. The martensitic, agehardenable martensitic and semi-finished grades are used for small forgings. are especially sensitive to nonmetallic inclusions because these inclusions became stress raisers that reduce fracture toughness and related measures of ductility.

HIGH-STRENGTH STEELS

To minimize the content of nonmetallic inclusions, highstrength steels are typically remelted under vacuum. In high-strength steels, high strength is attained at the expense of reduced ductility. The most common mechanical tests to assure that forgings of high strength steel will meet ductility and toughness requirements are:
The reduction in area and percent elongation in a transverse tension-test specimen Charpy impact tests on both standard and pre-cracked specimens taken from the forged material.

HIGH-STRENGTH STEELS

High-strength steels that contain a microscopic flaw or crack or other local stress concentration may fall in a brittle or catastrophic. Fracture toughness testing attempts to predict the behavior of a material under conditions in which a flaw or notch is present. The ultimate goal is to determine the critical flaw size below which brittle fracture will not be occur, for a structure of specified design, using materials with a specified strength level, and with a specified design load. High-strength steels generally are suitably protected from exfoliation corrosion by the application of organic finishes or metallic plating.

HIGH-STRENGTH STEELS

However, these steels are sometimes subject to stresscorrosion or hydrogen stress cracking. Both types of cracking occur in a plane normal to the direction of stress or load, thereby reducing the design section, and both types proceed with the enlargement of flaws to accelerate further cracking and eventual brittle fracture. Factors that affect the stress-corrosion susceptibility of high-strength steels are their composition, structure, strength level, applied stress, residual stress, environment and time.

MARAGING STEELS

comprise a special class of high-strength steels that differ from conventional steels in that they are hardened by a metallurgical reaction that does not involve carbon. are strengthened by the precipitation of intermetallic compounds at temperatures of about 480 C (900 F). Maraging is derived from martensite age hardening and denotes the age hardening of a low-carbon, iron-nickel lath martensite matrix. Commercial maraging steels are designed to provide specific levels of yield strength from 1030 to 2420 MPa (150 to 350 ksi). Some experimental maraging steels have yield strengths as high as 3450 MPa (500 ksi). typically have very high nickel, cobalt, and molybdenum contents and very low carbon contents. Carbon, in fact, is an impurity in these steels and is kept as low as commercially feasible in order to minimize the formation of titanium carbide (TiC), which can adversely affect strength, ductility, and toughness.

MARAGING STEELS

The absence of carbon and the use of intermetallic precipitation to achieve hardening produce several unique characteristics that set maraging steels apart from conventional steels. Hardenability is of no concern. The low-carbon martensite formed after annealing is relatively softabout 30 to 35 HRC. During age hardening, there are only very slight dimensional changes. Therefore, fairly intricate shapes can be machined in the soft condition and then hardened with a minimum of distortion. Weldability is excellent. Fracture toughness is considerably better than that of conventional high-strength steels. Maraging steels can be considered highly alloyed lowcarbon, iron-nickel lath martensites. These alloys also contain small but significant amounts of titanium.

The martensite is normally a low-carbon, body-centered cubic (bcc) lath martensite containing a high dislocation density but no twinning. This martensite is relatively soft (~ 30 HRC), ductile, and machinable.

The age hardening of maraging steels is produced by heat treating for 3 to 9 h at temperatures of the order of 455 to 510 C. With prolonged aging, the structure tends to revert to the equilibrium phasesprimarily ferrite and austenite.

Hardness of 18Ni(250) maraging steel versus aging time for various aging temperatures.

MARAGING STEELS

Age hardening in maraging steels results primarily from the precipitation of intermetallic compounds. Precipitation takes place preferentially on dislocations and within the lath martensite to produce a fine uniform distribution of coherent particles. The major hardener is molybdenum, which upon aging initially forms Ni3Mo, with an orthorhombic Cu3Ti-type structure . The metastable Ni3Mo phase forms initially because of its better lattice fit with the bcc martensitic matrix. Growth of the Ni3Mo is restricted by coherency strains, and as such, further aging results in the in situ transformation of Ni3Mo to the equilibrium Fe2Mo phase, which has a hexagonal C14-type structure. Titanium, which is generally present in maraging steels, promotes additional age hardening through the precipitation of Ni3Ti, which has a DO24 ordered hexagonal structure.

MARAGING STEELS

Cobalt does not directly participate in the age-hardening reaction, because this element does not form a precipitate with iron, nickel, molybdenum, or titanium in the 18Ni maraging alloy system. The main contribution of cobalt is to lower the solubility of molybdenum in the martensitic matrix and thus increase the amount of Ni3Mo precipitate formed during age hardening. Molybdenum also plays the necessary supplemental role of minimizing localized grain boundary precipitation by lowering the diffusion coefficients of a number of elements in solid solution. Precipitation of these grain-boundary phases severely impairs the toughness of most molybdenumfree ferrous alloys.

Effect of temperature on the mechanical properties of 18Ni maraging steels. (a) Stress. (b) Ductility. (c) Hardness.

Rotating-bean fatigue properties of three 18Ni maraging steels.

MARAGING STEELS
APPLICATIONS Maraging steels have been used in a wide variety of applications, including missile cases, aircraft forgings, structural parts, cannon recoil springs, Belleville springs, bearings, transmission shafts, fan shafts in commercial jet engines, couplings, hydraulic hoses, bolts, punches, and dies. Maraging steels have been extensively used in two general types of applications:

Aircraft and aerospace applications, in which the superior mechanical properties and weldability of maraging steels are the most important characteristics

MARAGING STEELS
Tooling

applications, in which the excellent mechanical properties and superior fabricability (in particular, the lack of distortion during age hardening) are important

In many applications, even though maraging steels are more expensive than conventional steels in terms of alloy cost, finished parts made of maraging steel are less expensive because of significantly lower fabrication costs. Therefore, it is often economics rather than properties alone that determine the use of maraging steels.

MARAGING STEELS

Density: 8.0 g/cm (0.29 lb/in) Specific heat, mean for 0100 C : 813J/(kgK) Melting point: 1413 C Mean Coefficient of Thermal Expansion: 10 m/(mK) Yield tensile strength: typically 14002100 Mpa Ultimate strength: typically 16002500 Mpa Young's modulus typically 150-200 GPa

PH Steels

The precipitation-hardening stainless steels are iron-nickelchromium alloys containing one or more precipitation hardening elements such as aluminum, titanium, copper, niobium, and molybdenum. The precipitation hardening is achieved by a relatively simple aging treatment of the fabricated part. The two main characteristics of all precipitation-hardening stainless steels are high strength and high corrosion resistance. Precipitation-hardenable (PH) stainless steels are turning up in more and more aerospace applications because they can be age hardened, sometimes after being cold worked, to various strength levels and used in severe environments

PH Steels

Precipitation-hardening stainless steels may be either austenitic or martensitic in the annealed condition. Those that are austenitic in the annealed condition are frequently transformable to martensite through conditioning heat treatments, sometimes with a subzero treatment.

PH Steels

There are three types of precipitation-hardening stainless steels:

Martensitic precipitation-hardening stainless steels, e.g., 17-4 PH (AISI 630), Stainless W, 15-5 PH, CROLOY 16-6 PH, CUSTOM 450, CUSTOM 455, PH 13-8 Mo, ALMAR 362, IN-736, etc., Austenitic precipitation-hardening stainless steels, e.g., A-286 (AISI 600), 17-10 P, HNM, etc., and Semiaustenitic precipitation-hardening stainless steels, e.g., 17-7 PH (AISI 631), PH 15-7 Mo, AM-350, AM-355, PH 14-8 Mo, etc.

The type is determined by the martensite start and the martensite finish temperature (Ms and Mf) as well as the asquenched microstructure

600 Series Precipitation Hardening Martensitic SS:

Have corrosion resistance comparable to 300 series austenitic grades but can be precipitation hardened for increased strength! Key: High strength + corrosion resistance BOTH. Why? Aerospace industry defense budgets determined 2% of GDP spent dealing with corrosion so developed high strength corrosion resistant steel to replace alloy steels. Common Grades: 630 grade = 17-4 PH (17% Cr, 4% Ni) and 15-5 PH

17-4 PH

Martensitic precipitation-hardening stainless steel Outstanding combination of high strength, good corrosion resistance, good mechanical properties at temperatures up to 600F (316C) Good toughness in both base metal and welds, and shorttime, Low-temperature heat treatments that minimize warpage and scaling. Widely used in the aerospace, chemical, petrochemical, food processing, paper and general metalworking industries.

Applications

Applications
The flap track is located in the trailing edge mechanism. This component is normally produced in stainless steels such as 15-5 PH etc

In recent years, new high-strength, corrosion-resistant steels have been developed with improved tensile properties.

Applications

Airframe 17-7 PH 600 series SS

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