The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of martensitic stainless steel

The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of MaX (1.4006) martensitic stainless steel has been studied. Optical microscopy was used to characterize the microstructure and the volume fraction of retained ferrite was measured by image analysis. Mechanical properties were measured in uni-axial tensile testing and a composite model has been developed to capture the effect of both the retained ferrite and the carbon content of the martensitic phase. First results show a reasonable correlation between the experimental stress-strain curves and the model. Results are discussed in view of a previous study on plain martensitic carbon steels.