Studies on nanostructured M50 type steel using x-ray absorption spectroscopy and NMR

We have investigated the local structural and magnetic properties of Fe in nanostructured Fe-Cr-Mo-V-C M50 type steel. Experimental techniques which we used include XAFS and NMR. NMR results on as-synthesized M50 type steel shows that the material contains a small amount of bcc Fe plus some other highly disordered phase(s). XAFS measurements indicate that the near neighbor coordinations around Fe are not simply well ordered bcc or fcc Fe and that the sample doesn't have long range crystalline order. XAFS measurements on the consolidated sample show that Fe is predominantly in the form of bcc Fe with good long range order.