Internal friction and Mossbauer study of C-Cr associates in MANET steel

Internal friction and Mossbauer techniques have been used to investigate the structure of C-Cr associates and the arrangement of Fe atoms near them in the Cr martensitic steel MANET subjected to different thermal treatments. After slow rate cooling from the austenitic field, the Mossbauer spectra exhibit, besides the complex magnetic pattern of martensite, a low intensity singlet attributed to the presence of a Cr-rich bcc phase. In correspondence, the internal friction curves, show, among others, a Snoek-type peak due to anelastic processes involving C-Cr associates with 6 Cr atoms. To explain the experimental results, a simple structural model is suggested