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An investigation into microstructure and mechanical properties of

maraging steel weldment
To cite this article: Deepak Kumar Gope et al 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 1104 012014

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ICOTRIME 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

An investigation into microstructure and mechanical

properties of maraging steel weldment
Deepak Kumar Gope1, Priyanshu Kumar1, Somnath Chattopadhyaya1,
Gowrishankar Wuriti1,2, Tessy Thomas2

I
Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad, Jharkhand 834001, India.

2
Defence Research and Development Organization, Hyderabad, 500058, India

dkrg05@gmail.com

Abstract. Maraging steel is an alloy of Ni-Fe having very low carbon content. These steel is
having superior properties like toughness and strength without losing its malleability. In the
present work 5mm thick Maraging steel plates were welded using GTAW process with maraging
steel filler wire. This paper attempts to analyse the microstructure and mechanical properties of
the weldment. Post weld heat treatment (PWHT) was carried out at 480 0C. Strength of welded
joint of as-weld and PWHT was tested using ultimate tensile machine (UTM). Both the tensile
specimen (As-weld and PWHT) breaks at base metal zone. The quality of joint at micro-level
was analysed using optical microscopy. PWHT sample have finer grain compare to weld sample.
Different phases transformation was observed in microstructures. Microhardness was also
observed at different location in and around the joint. It was also observed that the fusion zone
and heat affect zone (HAZ) of PWHT has higher value of Microhardness compare to weld
sample.

1. Introduction

Maraging steel is 18% Ni-Fe alloy. It is a low carbon martensitic steel with addition of cobalt, molybdenum,
titanium and aluminium. It has superior properties such as toughness and strength. The strength of any steel
is depend upon the carbon % ,but in maraging steel the strength is depend upon precipitation of intermetallic
compound. These alloys are extensively used in aerospace and military application.
GTAW is one of the most widely used welding process for aerospace materials. It provide flexibility in
welding design with higher weld quality. During GTAW process these steel get heated to very high
temperature which changes the crystal structure and morphology at different zone of the welded plate. In
order to retain mechanical and metallurgical properties PWHT have been carried out.
Post weld heat treatment of direct ageing (4800C for 3 hours). Heating between 400 and 4800 C, Ni3Ti and
Ni3Mo precipitate is formed which is responsible for the hardness gained during initial stage. Aging at
higher temperature e.g. 6500C for 3 hours, promotes the dissolution of both the phases and formed Fe2Mo
stable precipitates and Ni in enrichments of matrix, which causes the formation of austenite phase. The fully
austenite phase is obtained by subjecting the steel to the solution treatment in the temperature range 8150C
to 9000C followed by quenching will lead to transformed into martensitic matrix. At 500 0C to 7000C the
reverted austenite phase formed which is located on the lath boundary of martensitic, it is mainly a micro-
segregation and decomposition products which promote the fracture propagation and lead to the crack
formation. Some of the researchers have shown that many of the welding processes are less receptive
towards SCC. However, gas tungsten arc welding is extensively employed for this welding because of its
high weld quality at comparatively low cost. In most cases, the tensile efficiency is more than 90%.
However, the toughness of the fusion zone is an important concern. This is mainly due to micro segregation

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ICOTRIME 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

of alloying elements. Formation of reverted austenite is particularly enhanced when alloying elements
segregate to the cell and dendrite boundaries [1]. Kenyon [2] used a filler materials having reduced amount
of titanium and molybdenum. It has been observed that there is significant enhancement of toughness and
the associated formation of austenite pools were reduced. In GTA-welds, there is a corrosion susceptible
region at the interface of austenite pool and surrounding martensite matrix [3]. Segregation of Ti and Mo,
which otherwise results in the formation of compounds like Ti (CN) and Mo (FeC) resulting deterioration
of SCC resistance in GTA-welds [3]. Coarse grain and grain size are also important factor which is more
responsive to produce crack. Refinement of grain is very much necessary to reduce crack propagation. The
process of PWHT has eliminated the segregation of alloying elements and avoided the formation of reverted
austenite. The homogenized and aged welds exhibited higher corrosion resistance compared to the directly
aged, solutionized and aged conditions attributes to absence of austenite/martensite interface. The Stress
corrosion cracking resistance was found to be the highest for maraging steel welds after the post weld heat
treatment condition of homogenization [4]. Sakai et.al compared the microstructure with different welding
process and shows that the width of LBW has significant reduction in the width of HAZ and FZ as compared
to TIG and PAW welding processes. This difference does not have significant affect in the mechanical
properties of the maraging steel [5]. During the fracture, the rupture was generally initiated at the interface
between the FZ and HAZ, spreading into the region of lower hardness of the steel. Anodic path dissolution
and hydrogen embrittlement are the proposed mechanism for SCC in maraging steel [6]. Cracking mainly
occurs in a plane and inclined towards pre-cracking [7]. It has been observed that the crack growth velocity
is much faster in water than in oil [8]. Properties of maraging steel has been studied in different
environmental conditions which shows the vulnerable effects of those towards SCC [9-12]. So the SCC of
maraging steel may highly responsible for environment also, but it has not critically studied.
V.Venkateswara et.al studied the influence of PWHT on microstructure and mechanical properties of
GTAW of maraging steel weldments [13]. P.Venkata Ramana et.al studied the microstructure and residual
stress distribution of similar and dissimilar electron beam welds-maraging steel to medium alloy medium
carbon steel [14]. H. Hou studied the effect of austenitizing temperature on the mechanical properties of
high-strength maraging steel [15] .VIJAY et.al studied the precipitation Reaction and Strengthening
Behavior in 18 Wt Pct Nickel Maraging Steels [16]. Shuo Yin et.al investigated the influence of aging
temperature and ageing time on the mechanical and tribological properties of selective laser melted
maraging 18Ni-300 steel [17].G.Madusudhan Reddy et.al studied the microstructure and corrosion
behaviour of gas tungsten arc welds of maraging steel [18]. M.Vinoth kumar et.al found that the stress
corrosion cracking behaviour of gas tungsten arc welded super austenitic stainless steel joints [19]. Deepak
Kumar Gope et.al studied the Experimental investigation of plug cutter embedded TIG welding of Ti-6A1-
4V titanium alloy [20].
From the literature review it can be observed that very few literature is available on maraging steel. This
material has many exceptional properties but it is rarely investigated. Welding of maraging steel is a
complex process and it require lot of investigation on the effect of process parameters and it PWHT.
This paper made an attempt to analyse the welding of maraging steel using GTAW process. It investigate
the microstructure and mechanical properties of the welded joint. It also investigate the effect of post weld
heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of the welded joint.

2. Materials and Methods

Maraging steel is an alloy of Fe-Ni and having very low carbon content. It has superior properties of
toughness and strength without losing its malleability. In the present study 18% Ni maraging steel has
been welded using GTAW process which is maraging steel grade 250. The filler material used in this
process is of maraging steel. The chemical composition of as received maraging steel plate and filler
wire is shown in table 1. The chemical composition of both filler wire and plates are very similar.

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ICOTRIME 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

Table 1: Chemical composition of base metal and filler wire

Element Weight % Weight %
(Plate) (Filler Wire)
C 0.013 0.01
Si 0.033 0.042
Mn 0.004 0.005
P 0.003 0.004
S 0.001 0.001
Co 7.66 7.74
Ni 17.95 17.83
Mo 4.74 4.67
Ti 0.435 0.40
Al 0.085 0.092
Fe Bal Bal
The as received plates were cut in dimension of 100mm X 100mm X 5mm using abrasive cutter which
is shown in fig 1.

Fig 1: Maraging Steel Plate samples.

Fixture Design
Fixture is an essential component of welding design. Fixture has direct effect on the quality of welding.
If the fixture is not properly design the welding may have misalignment defect or have distortion in
geometry due to heating of the materials. In GTA welding an inert gas is used to protect the weld pool
from environmental contamination and oxidation due to high heat input. This inter gas is supplied
through GTAW torch on the top surface of the weld pool. But the bottom side of the weld pool gets
affected due to high heat input and environmental contamination. In order protect the back side of the
welding plates, a back purge fixture have been design to provide an inert environment from the back
side of the welding. The back purge fixture is designed in accordance with AWS standards. In this
fixture a pipe of dia 2.5 mm is perforated with series of small pores of dia 1 mm is inserted in the base
of the fixture. At the top of the fixture and at the gap position similar pores have been created to get the
inert gas in proper direction. The back purge fixture design along with the fixture is shown in fig 2.
After cutting the plates in dimension, a groove was provided at one edge of each plate with bevel angle
of 350. The root gap is taken as 1.5 mm and root face is 2 mm. The configuration in which the welding
of the plates to be carried out is shown in fig.3.

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ICOTRIME 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

Fig 2: (a) Back-Purge Fixture Design; (b) Image of back purge fixture

Fig 3: Drawing of welding specimen

Welding Process
Based on several trial on experiments the process parameters to carry out the welding is shown in table
2.
Table 2: Process parameters for Experiment
Current Speed Voltage Gas Flow
(A) (mm/s) (V) Rate (L/min)
100 1 12 15
The joining of the two maraging steel plates was carried out with the above shown parameters using
18Ni250 filler wire on Lincoln GTAW machine. The welded plate is shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 4: The welded plates

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ICOTRIME 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

Two set of welding was performed with same parameters. One sample is taken for PWHT and other
sample is kept in as weld condition. PWHT was carried out in electric furnace with heating capacity of
10000C. PWHT of the sample was performed at 4800C for 3 hours and then it is furnace cool for next 8
hours.
Testing and analysis
After welding the different mechanical and metallurgical samples have been cut out for their testing
and analysis. For tensile test the samples have been cut as per ASTM E8 standard. Two tensile specimen
have been cut out. One for PWHT and another is for as weld condition which is shown in fig 5. The
tensile strength test was performed in universal testing machine.

Fig. 5: Tensile specimen

For metallurgical analysis, sample in the dimension of 35 mm X 6mm X 5mm has been cut out from
the welded plate. Then samples were polished from different grit size of emery paper. Starting from
200 grit size emery paper, the samples were gradually polished to 1500 grit size emery paper. After
polishing from emery paper the samples were polished in alumina powder. Then at final stage diamond
paste was used to give final polishing. For Microstructural analysis the polished samples were etched
with chemical prepared by mixing 50 ml of HCl, 25 ml of HNO3, 1gm of CuCl2 and 150ml of H2O.
Microstructure was observed in metallurgical microscope at different magnifications.
For Microhardness testing the sample have been cut in the dimension of 35 mm X 6mm X 5mm.
Microhardness analysis was performed in Vicker’s Microhardness testing machine. The indentation
was made with 1kgf load and dwell time of 10 sec. Micro-indentation was done at three zone which are
as follow:
• Fusion zone (FZ),
• HAZ (heat affected zone),
• Base material

3. Result and Discussion

Microstructural Analysis
Microstructural analysis was carried out on two sample. One is for as weld condition and another is for
PWHT condition. On each sample microstructure was observed on three different location i.e. base metal,
fusion zone and HAZ. Microstructure of as weld samples in as weld condition is shown in fig. 6. It was
observed that multidirectional columnar grain was distributed over the fusion zone. The grains are found to
be coarse in this zone as compared to other zones. Fig. 6 (b) shows the HAZ region as well as the weld
interface boundary. A clear boundary between weld and base metal can be observed. It also shows complete
penetration and complete fusibility of the materials. The HAZ region also have coarse grain but it is
comparatively less coarse than FZ. Microstructure of the base metal is shown in fig.6 (c).

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ICOTRIME 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

(a) (b)

(c)
Fig. 6: Microstructure of As welded sample

Microstructure of PWHT sample is shown in fig.7. PWHT has significantly affect the microstructure in all
regions. From fig. 7(a) it can be observed that the grains become finer and unidirectional. The PWHT
condition gives martensitic phase with cellular structure. The multidirectional grain which was observed in
fig.6 (a) give rise to dislocation defect which was overcome by PHWT as observed in fig.7 (a). The interface
between weld metal and base metal is shown in fig.7 (b). It also shows HAZ. It also shows significant
improvement in grain structure. Base metal region shows evenly distribution of austenite phase in fig. 7 (c).

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 7: Microstructure of PWHT samples
Microhardness Analysis
Microhardness values of the work piece has been taken on three different regions namely base material,
fusion zone, HAZ of both the sample which is graphically shown in fig. 8. The hardness value of weld
material varies in the range from 272 -458 HV. Hardness value of HAZ is varies from 295-492. Hardness
value of parent metal is in range of 301-473. Grain size also affect the hardness of the material in the
following way - fine grain size with heat treatment enhances the hardness value while coarse grain has lower
hardness. The hardness value of HAZ is found to be greater than fusion zone in both as weld condition and
PWHT condition. In HAZ the grain size decreases because of its distance from the fusion zone. Whereas at
fusion zone the microstructure is coarser which were transform from austenite phase during cooling. In
certain cases the formation of small amount of reverted austenite result in lower hardness value of HAZ
compare to the base metal hardness. It can be observed that PWHT sample has significantly higher value
compared to as weld sample. This is mainly due to precipitate formation during PWHT.

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ICOTRIME 2020 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

Fig.8: Graphical representation of hardness value

Tensile Strength
The ultimate tensile strength of any material is depend upon the grain structure inside that material. The
reduction in the ultimate tensile strength was mainly due to coarser grain structure in the heat treated
samples. The coarser grain structure is formed due to slower cooling rate which was mainly due to higher
heat input. The tensile strength value obtained from universal testing machine for as weld condition and
PWHT condition is shown in table 3 and broken samples are shown in fig. 9. Here CSA stands for Cross
section area.
Table 3: Details of Tensile test
Sample As Weld PWHT
CSA 30.10 30.10
(mm2)
Elongation 17 18
(%)
Location of fracture HAZ Base metal

Tensile strength 1080.75 1245.25

(MPa)

Breaking Strength 825.56 1130.85

(MPa)

Fig. 9: Broken tensile specimen

The post-weld heat treated sample is having high tensile strength comparing to as weld condition. The
improve in strength is mainly due to precipitation hardening effect and it was observe that at age-treated
weld sample from 3600C to 4800C a precipitate is form which is Ti and Mo [1].

4. Conclusion
The experiment conducted in this paper presents the welding of maraging steel grade 250 with same filler
wire. Simultaneously a critical comparison was made for PWHT condition and as weld condition. Following
conclusion con be drawn from this study:
• During welding the FZ as well as HAZ undergoes complex changes due to high heat input
which adversely effects its grain structure arrangement.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

• PWHT at 4800C for 3 hours shows significant improvement in its microstructure at FZ and
HAZ. The grains become unidirectional.
• Hardness value at FZ (272 HVN) and HAZ (295 HVN) decrease as compared to base metal
(301 HVN) in both condition. This is mainly due to coarsening of grain structure.
• The hardness value of PWHT samples in FZ (458 HVN), HAZ (492 HVN) and base metal (473
HVN) is significantly higher which is mainly due to precipitate formation during PWHT and
finer grain structure.
• Tensile test shows that the strength value of PWHT sample have higher strength. This is mainly
due to precipitate formation.

Acknowledgement
The author would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by RCI, DRDO, Hyderabad, (India)
under grant no. DRDO (11)/2018-2019/604/MECH.ENGG.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1104 (2021) 012014 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/1104/1/012014

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