The Effect of Heat Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of 17-7PH Stainless Steel

Abstract

(1) Austenite in the solution treatment could be transformed into martensite by intermediate and subzero treatments, so that tensile strength, yield strength, plane-bending fatigue limit and hardness increased, but elongation considerably decreased.(2) After subzero treatment, the mechanical properties of this steel increased a little with increasing intermediate temperature.(3) In the relation between aging conditions and hardness, the lower the aging temperature, the longer was the aging time that showed a maximum value of hardness, but its value rose high. yield strength, fatigue limit and hardness were remarkably increased in the early stage of aging and showed the maximum values in 2 hours.But these elongation was nearly constant up to 7 hours.(6) In the condition of subzero treatment or aging treatment the ratio of the fatigue limit to the tensile strength was about one-third.