Obtaining Excellent Mechanical Properties in an Ultrahigh-Strength Stainless Bearing Steel via Solution Treatment

A novel versatile ultrahigh-strength stainless bearing steel was prepared by first solution treating the steel at temperatures between 1000 °C and 1100 °C for 1 h, followed by performing cryogenic treatment at −73 °C for 2 h, and tempering at 500 °C for 2 h, with the cryogenic and tempering treatments being repeated twice. The microstructures were characterized using multiscale techniques, and the mechanical properties were investigated using tensile testing, as well as via Rockwell hardness and impact toughness measurements. Tensile strength was found to be independent of solution temperature, with a value of about 1800 MPa. In contrast, yield strength decreased from 1530 MPa to 1033 MPa with increasing solution temperature, while tensile elongation increased from 15.3% to 20.5%. This resulted in an excellent combined product of tensile strength and elongation for steels initially treated at 1080 °C and 1100 °C, with values of 33.9 GPa·% and 37.0 GPa·%, respectively. Furthermore, the steels showed excellent impact toughness, increasing from 37.0 J to 86.2 J with increasing solution temperature. The microstructural and mechanical investigations reveal that the excellent mechanical properties and impact toughness are related to three factors, namely (i) a transformation-induced plasticity effect, mainly attributed to a high volume fraction of retained austenite, (ii) a high strengthening capacity arising from a high dislocation density, and (iii) a synergistic effect due to cobalt additions and the nanoprecipitation of M2C and M6C carbides.