Effect of cold rolling and ageing treatment on the interface morphology and mechanical properties of maraging steel/medium-entropy alloy multilayer composite

Abstract The cold rolling and subsequent ageing treatment of hot-rolled 18Ni300/CoCrNi multilayer composites were carried out to analyse the high work hardening ability of medium-entropy alloy (CoCrNi alloy) and the ageing precipitate strengthening effect of maraging steel (18Ni300). The results show that with the rise of cold rolling reduction, the ratio constitute layer and interface transition layer thicknesses are gradually decreased, and the interface shape changes from a flat to a wavy state, which is mainly due to the serious work hardening of the CoCrNi layer. Meanwhile, the tensile strength continuously increased. When the multilayer composite is cold-rolled to 0.5 mm, its tensile strength reaches more than 2 GPa, and the fracture elongation remains at approximately 7%. After ageing, the superior tensile strength is as high as 2825 MPa, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of work hardening, precipitation strengthening and strong interface bonding strengthening.