Wear Resistant Cost Effective "C-350 Maraging" Like Materials

Maraging steels of the C-350 family are often applied for industrial applications due to their exceptional combination of high strength and high fracture toughness. They exhibit other relevant properties at such very high mechanical resistance levels like excellent weldability, good machinability and simple heat treatment which results in distortion isotropy and predictable heat treatment shrinkage. However, the major drawbacks of these materials are their poor wear resistance and their high cost related to their alloying elements (Ni, Mo, Ti and Co) and manufacturing process. A new family of Fe-based materials has been developed with slightly increased resilience (>450 J) and fracture toughness (45 MPa*m1/2) at comparable tensile mechanical resistance levels to C-350 (2450 MPa). Abrasive wear resistance and abrasive-adhesive wear resistance during shaping AHSS sheets have been increased two orders of magnitude. Ni weight amount has been reduced to almost 1/3, Co content to less than 1/6 and Ti has been totally replaced with other cheaper precipitate formers leading to a severely reduced manufacturing cost. They are also currently precipitated at 520 ºC presenting somewhat higher heat treatment distortion. The outstanding properties of these new alloys make them excellent candidates for many industrial applications requiring high strength, toughness and wear resistance. They can be also used for high strength structural applications such as aircraft land gear components.