Title: Behaviour of a maraging steel under quasi-static and dynamic compressive loading

Authors: E. Lach, R. Schnitzer, H. Leitner, A. Redjaimia, H. Clemens

Addresses: PDM, ISL, French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis, P.O. Box 70034 F-68301 Saint-Louis, France. ' Christian Doppler Laboratory for Early Stages of Precipitation, University of Leoben, Franz-Josef-Strasse 18, A – 8700 Leoben, Austria. ' Christian Doppler Laboratory for Early Stages of Precipitation, University of Leoben, Franz-Josef-Straße 18, A – 8700 Leoben, Austria. ' Institut Jean Lamour, UMR 7198 CNRS – Nancy-Universite – UPV-Metz, Ecole des Mines de Nancy, Parc de Saurupt CS 14234, F-54042 Nancy Cedex, France. ' Department of Physical Metallurgy and Materials Testing, University of Leoben, Franz-Josef-Strasse 18, A – 8700 Leoben, Austria

Abstract: The class of stainless maraging steels exhibits an excellent combination of very high strength and hardness, ductility and toughness, combined with good corrosion resistance. Due to precipitation hardening 0.2% yield stress values of up to 2.4 GPa can be achieved. In many applications like crash worthiness or ballistic protection the materials are loaded at high strain-rates. The most important characteristic of material behaviour under dynamic loading is the dynamic yield stress. In this work, compression tests have been conducted at strain-rates of the order of 5 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹ up to 3 × 10³ s⁻¹ to study the materials behaviour. In order to investigate the influence of temperature, dynamic compression tests have been performed in the temperature range from −40°C to 300°C. The Johnson-Cook equation has been used to describe the materials behaviour under dynamic loading. From strain-rate jump tests the activation volume was determined in order to identify the dislocation mechanisms which control the thermally activated part of plastic deformation.

Keywords: maraging steel; stainless steel; compression test; split Hopkinson pressure bar; SHBP; Johnson-Cook model; mechanical behaviour; strain rate sensitivity; intermetallic phase; microstructure; transmission electron microscopy; TEM; precipitate; atom probe tomography; APT; activation volume; dynamic loading; compressive loading; dynamic yield stress; temperature; dislocation mechanisms; plastic deformation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMP.2010.032502

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties, 2010 Vol.5 No.1, pp.65 - 78

Published online: 04 Apr 2010 *

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