Structural and magnetic characterization of martensitic Maraging-350 steel

NUNES, G.C.S.; SARVEZUK, P.W.C.; BIONDO, V.; BLANCO M. C.; NUNES, M.V.S.; DE ANDRADE, A.M.H.; PAESANO J. A.

JOURNAL OF ALLOYS AND COMPOUNDS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 646 p. 321 - 325

0925-8388

A solubilized Maraging-350 steel used in the nuclear industry, as received from the manufacturer, was finely characterized by X-ray diffraction (Rietveld refinement), M?ossbauer spectroscopy and magnetization techniques. For these characterizations, samples were prepared with exceptional care regarding any possible modification of the physical properties of the steel due to mechanical work done on the original piece during specimen preparation. The results showed that the steel is martensitic, although evidence of a crystallographic distortion from the cubic symmetry usually attributed to the martensite was found. It was also revealed that the atomic configurations of the iron nearest neighbors may be assembled in three groups, according to the hyperfine magnetic field at the iron sites. Magnetic minor loops displayed a soft magnetic material with the coercive field, residual induction and loop area obtained as a function of the maximum applied field in the loop obeying peculiar behaviors. The measured properties represent key information for a suitable control for the aging of Maraging-350 and, consequently, for the design of ultracentrifuges used in the isotope enrichment of nuclear fuel.