Estudo do comportamento mecânico e microestrutural de um aço maraging após soldagem a laser e tratamentos térmicos

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Maraging steels are iron-nickel alloys having an unusual high combination of strength and toughness. These alloys have high contents of cobalt and molybdenum in a martensitic structure that is very ductile in the annealed condition. Upon reheating at about 480ºC, they undergo age hardening and produce high yield strength, usually between 1700 and 2700 MPa. In this work, the welding process was carried out using a 2 kW fiber laser without metal addition and using argon as the shielding gas. Welded specimens for tensile tests were prepared and divided in four groups with different thermal treatments: homogenized, solutionized and aged, homogenized and aged, solutionized and aged and just aged. The chemical and microstructural analyses, as well as tensile tests, were performed in order to evaluate microstructural and mechanical properties in each heat treatment condition. The micrograph images show that fusion zones exhibit a cellular-dendritic morphology. It is possible to observe two distinct regions on the heat affected zone (HAZ). After post-weld aging treatment, the fusion zone showed relatively lower values of hardness (450HV), when compared to heat-affected zones and base material (≈500HV), due to segregation in the fusion zone, which increases the tendency of austenite formation during ageing. The solution annealed and aged group presented the highest yield strength values (≈1890 MPa). Homogenisation treatment showed to be effective on redistributing solute content in the fusion zone, but it has generated grain size growth and oxidation of material surface, decreasing yield strength to 1300 MPa. Fractography analysis... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)