Nitridation of the 03Kh11N10M2T and the 03Kh12N10MT martensite stainless steels

The preliminary annealing and nitriding conditions that have been developed for the maraging stainless 03Kh11N10M2T steel and for the non-ageing 03Kh12N10MT steel for cryogenic temperatures ensure the stability of their structures in nitriding and service, and their high resilience. It is found that the residual austenite in the above stainless steels retains its stability, while the nitrided layer resists failure in tensile loading right to the yield limit of the core. A substantial advantage of nitrided 03Kh11N10M2T and 03Kh11N10M2T steels is a high plasticity of the layer and a high corrosion resistance of the nitrided layer to a depth of 60 to 70 % of the layer thickness. The 03Kh11N10M2T steel retains its high strength up to 450 deg C and 03Kh12N10MT steel, to 350 deg C, thus making it possible to use them over a wide interval of temperatures