Precipitation Hardening of Triplex Steel by Using Nickel Aluminum Inter-Metallic Precipitates

Abstract

This paper deals with three types of triplex steel, where containing 25 to 28 wt.% manganese, 0.8 to 0.89 wt.% Carbon, 9.9 to 11.11 wt.% Aluminum, and with different Nickel content. Two types contain Ni in range of 0.9 to 2 wt.% and third type doesn’t contain Ni. The precipitation of Nano-size kappa carbides is the most proper technique used for this objective. It is expected that inter-metallic strengthening mechanism should act more effective in promoting the strength of Triplex steel with ductility. From this point of view, this research was designed to study the effect of inter-metallic inductive alloying element as Nickel on promoting of the strength and ductility of the high aluminum containing high manganese steel. Optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to detect of inter-metallic precipitates through steel investigated ranged in Nickel from 0 to 2 wt.%. Mechanical and strain hardening properties were determined in the steel investigated after different regimes of heat treatment. It was found that Ni3Al inter-metallic compound provides the austenite matrix with good strength and ductility, depending on the ageing time. Further deterioration was obviously observed in the steel investigated as increasing the ageing time, attributing to coarse structure occurrence.