X-ray diffraction peak profile analysis of maraged Fe-Ni-Mn steels

X-ray diffraction peak profile analysis was used to identify changes in the lattice distortions during isothermal aging of Fe-10Ni-7Mn (wt. %) maraging steel. Integral peak breadths were analyzed using classical Williamson-Hall equation taking the elastic anisotropy into account. It was found that substantial lattice distortions rise during precipitation hardening which depend strongly on the specific Young’s modulus of a given crystallographic direction. After normalizing by elastic stiffness, the magnitude of average lattice distortions increased reasonably in accordance with age hardening.