Indigenous development and airworthiness certification of 15–5 PH precipitation hardenable stainless steel for aircraft applications

In this paper, we discuss the optimization of chemical composition, processing (forging and rolling) and heat treatment parameters to obtain the best combination of mechanical properties in case of a Fe–15Cr–5Ni–4Cu precipitation hardenable stainless steel. The ε-copper precipitates that form during aging are spherical in shape and coherent with the matrix and principally provide strengthening in this alloy. The orientation relationship is found to be Kurdjumov–Sachs (K–S), which is common in fcc–bcc systems. Results obtained from metallurgical evaluation (mechanical property and metallography) on 15–5 PH alloy during type certification on 3 different melts were used for the optimization, attempted in this study. The mechanical properties following strain deformation has been carried out using optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). In the aged conditions, the 15–5 PH alloy exhibited brittle failure with extensive cleavage and/or quasicleavage fracture. This paper reports all results and also factually shows that indigenously developed and produced 15–5 PH stainless steel matches in its properties with the equivalent aeronautical grade precipitation hardening stainless steels globally produced by internationally renowned manufactures.