Abstract—The microhardness, the structure of the maraging steel (MAS) 03N18K3M3T, and its susceptibility to delayed fracture (DF) after various regimes of treatment, including surface irradiation with argon ions Ar⁺ with an energy of 40 keV have been studied in this work. It has been shown that the most significant improvement in the properties (maximum hardness and minimum strength decrease upon DF) is reached if using irradiation at the final stage of steel treatment. The efficiency of this treatment regime is seen in the change of the mechanism of the crack propagation: from the brittle intergranular mechanism after steel aging for 3 h at 400°C (remaining the same in the case of ion irradiation before aging) to the quasi-cleavage mechanism during the irradiation after aging. It has been noted that in the latter case the microstructure of the investigated steel becomes more homogeneous over the entire volume of the sample as compared to the steel after the preliminary irradiation.

摘要—在各种处理方式下，包括氩离子Ar ^+的表面辐照处理后，马氏体03N18K3M3T钢的显微硬度，组织及其对延迟断裂的敏感性这项工作已研究出能量为40 keV的能量。已经表明，如果在钢处理的最后阶段使用辐照，则可以实现性能上的最显着改善（最大硬度和最小强度降低）。从裂纹扩展机理的变化可以看出这种处理方式的效率：从钢在400°C老化3 h后的脆性晶间机理（在老化前进行离子辐照时保持不变）到准老化后的辐照过程中的卵裂机理。已经注意到，在后一种情况下，与初步辐照后的钢相比，所研究钢的微观结构在样品的整个体积上变得更加均匀。