A. Tronche, AUBERT & DUVAL, Gennevilliers, France
Stainlee steels are gaining importance in today's world because they represent a good alternative to low carbon steels protected with hazardous substances. Stainless steels can be martensitic, austenitic, with or withour carbon. The present document will focus on the precipitation hardening stainless steels, those commonly used for structural applications in the aerospace industry.
Precipitation hardening stainless steels conver a wide range of resistance typically from 100 MPa (145 ksi) to 1930 MPa (280 ksi) and above. Increasing the resistance of the grades implies compromising on other properties, namely toughness and stress corrosion resistance. Nevertheless the recent development tools have allowed to create simple precipitation hardening solutions with high resistance, controlled fracture toughness and good common and stress corrosion resistance. An example of such an achievement is MLX19 (280 ksi) from AUBERT&DUVAL.
The paper will therefore present the different grades, the technical approach for their development and the potential limitations which have to be taken into account.
Stainless steels are gaining importance in today's world because they represent a good alternative to low carbon steels protected with hazardous substances. Stainless steels can be martensitic, austenitic, with or without carbon. The present document will focus on the precipitation hardening stainless steels, those commonly used for structureal applications in the aerospace industry.
Precipitation hardening stainless steels cover a wide range of resistance typically from 1000 MPa (145 ksi) to 1930 MPa (280 ksi) and above. Increasing the resistance of the grades implies compromising on other properties, namely toughness and stress corrosion resistance. Nevertheless the recent development tools have allowed to create simple precipitation hardening solutions with high resistance, controlled fracture toughness and good common and strss corrosion resistance. An example of such an achievement is MLX19 (280 ksi) from AUBERT&DOUVAL.
This paper will therefore present the different grades, the technical approach for their develoment and the potential limitations which have to be taken into accoun.
