Observation of Precipitation Evolution in Fe-Ni-Mn-Ti-Al Maraging Steel by Atom Probe Tomography

We describe the full decomposition sequence in an Fe-Ni-Mn-Ti-Al maraging steel during isothermal annealing at 550 °C. Following significant pre-precipitation clustering reactions within the supersaturated martensitic solid solution, (Ni,Fe)3Ti and (Ni,Fe)3(Al,Mn) precipitates eventually form after isothermal aging for ~60 seconds. The morphology of the (Ni,Fe)3Ti particles changes gradually during aging from predominantly plate-like to rod-like, and, importantly, Mn and Al were observed to segregate to these precipitate/matrix interfaces. The (Ni,Fe)3(Al,Mn) precipitates occurred at two main locations: uniformly within the matrix and at the periphery of the (Ni,Fe)3Ti particles. We relate this latter mode of precipitation to the Mn-Al segregation.