Microstructural changes produced by hot forging in a C300 Maraging Steel

Maraging steels are special steels with high strength and high toughness. Despite their desirable properties, their applications are limited due to their high production cost. In order to discover new processes that improve the mechanical properties of this alloy, the microstructural changes induced by hot forging in a maraging C300 steel were analysed. Prismatic samples were deformed without lubrication using several forging conditions, and then were analysed in both the as forged and aged stages employing different techniques such as: optical microscopy, hardness testing, SEM, TEM and XRD. The experimental results showed that an important refinement of the martensite block width was obtained when hot working produced either work-hardened or partially recrystallized austenite. In addition, the specimens in which the martensite phase was produced from a work-hardened austenite hardened faster in the early stages of precipitation than non-deformed ones. Besides, the amount of austenite in the former samples was higher than the one found in the latter. These two facts suggest that a significant acceleration of the precipitation and reverted austenite formation reactions might be taking place in the samples where hot forging produced a work-hardened austenite. Finally, the slight increase in hardness produced by deformation in the as forged condition was partially eliminated during aging. This fact was probably caused by the recovery of the martensite substructure.